Shell Oil Spills: UK Court Rules On Bille, Ogale Suits, ‘Morrow

The United Kingdom High Court in London will tomorrow, rule on whether Bille and Ogale communities in Degema and Eleme local government areas, respectively, in Rivers State, whose environment and livelihoods were destroyed by oil spills can have their claims against Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) heard in the UK.
The Amnesty International, in a statement made available to The Tide, yesterday, said that the cases could set a precedent for holding other UK-based multinationals to account for abuses committed overseas.
“This ruling will have wide-ranging implications for corporations based in the UK that abuse human rights abroad. If the court rules that the communities cannot have their cases heard in the UK, it would effectively be a green light for UK multinationals to profit from human rights abuses and environmental destruction around the world,” Director of Global Issues at Amnesty International, Audrey Gaughran, said.
The Tide gathered that the two separate legal actions were brought against Shell on behalf of more than 42,000 people from Ogale and Bille communities in Rivers State, who live with appalling pollution caused by oil spills.
Shell’s subsidiary in Nigeria, SPDC had argued that the case was outside UK jurisdiction, and should be heard in courts within Nigerian jurisdiction.
The statement alleged that Amnesty International and other organizations had exposed how rural communities affected by oil pollution frequently face insurmountable challenges when trying to take Shell to court in Nigeria.
It noted a November 3, 2015, report, ‘Clean it up: Shell’s false claims about oil spills in the Niger Delta’, in which Amnesty International documented ongoing contamination at four oil spill sites, and exposed as false Shell’s claims that they had been cleaned up years ago.

Susan Serekara-Nwikhana