Dutch Court Ruling Against Shell a Watershed, says ERA

The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has described a Dutch court ruling today (January 30, 2013) which held Shell liable for the pollution of fish ponds and farmlands in Ikot Ada Udo, a community in Akwa Ibom as a major watershed in the quest for environmental justice in the Niger Delta. ERA/FoEN is however disappointed that the court ruled otherwise with regard to the Goi and Oruma communities in Rivers and Bayelsa states respectively. In a statement issued in Lagos, ERA/FoEN said that while it disagreed with the court’s position that the polluted farmlands and fishponds in Goi and Oruma were due to alleged sabotage by local community people, the ruling on Ikot Ada Udo has set a precedent for global environmental accountability because companies can now be tried in their home countries for their acts or omissions in their host countries. The Hague Civil Court said that the level of damages in that case will be established at a later hearing. It rejected other claims, saying they were caused by saboteurs and, that under Nigerian law, oil companies are not responsible unless they breach their duty of care. The Goi and Oruma communities have three months to appeal. Four farmers, supported by Friends of the Earth, dragged Shell to the Dutch court thousands of miles away from their communities in Nigeria, where Shell’s defective pipelines caused damage to their fishponds and farmlands in 2004, 2005 and 2006. Shell has consistently denied responsibility. It refused to clean-up the spill and did not pay compensation. The case, which has Milieudefensie as co-Plaintiff, was filed in 2008 and had passed through lots of legal hurdles ostensibly set up by Shell before getting to this point of judgment. While Royal Dutch Shell Plc had maintained that it could not be held responsible for the actions of its subsidiary in Nigeria, the subsidiary Shell Petroleum Development Company Nigeria Ltd had insisted that it cannot be tried by the court in The Hague for problems arising from Nigeria. The Dutch judiciary in 2009 declared itself competent to try the case. Last October, the Dutch court had a full trial of the case whereupon the judgment of today declaring that Shell broke the law by not repairing leaks that destroyed the lands of the four farmers is based on. “This ruling is commendable. Through its action, Shell has demonstrated disdain for the wellbeing of communities that suffer the impacts of its reckless exploitation of oil in the Niger Delta. The company knew for a long time that its pipeline was damaged but did not do anything even when it could have stopped the leaking pipes. It is just and fair that it is held accountable,“ said ERA/FoEN Executive Director, Nnimmo Bassey. “This win for Ikot Ada Udo has set a precedent as it will be an important step that multinationals can more easily be made answerable for the damage they do in developing countries. We anticipate other communities will now demand that Shell pay for the assault on their environment”. Bassey added that: “Until now it has been very problematic because it is difficult to bring cases against these companies in their home countries, because the legislation is often not advanced or properly applied”. ERA/FoEN Director, Programmes and Administration, Godwin Uyi Ojo added that “While we commend the Dutch court ruling, it is now time the western countries pass laws compelling companies to enforce the same environmental responsibility standards abroad as at home. “Shell’s volte face in the face of incontrovertible evidence has again shown the double standards of the oil companies in treating spills incidents in Nigeria differently from their pollution in Europe or North America. We are still optimistic that the Goi and Oruma communities will get justice. The ruling against the two communities will be appealed”, Ojo stressed.