Nigerian villagers sue Shell in landmark pollution case
October 11 1:12 pm
On October 11,2012 Ivana Sekularac
and Anthony Deutsch reported on Chicago Tribune that four Nigerian villagers
took Royal Dutch Shell to court on Thursday. The fisherman and farmers,
together with the Friends of Earth Campaign group, accused the oil company of
polluting land and waterways around their homes in Niger Delta region of
Africa’s top energy producer. Campaigners said that this could open the door to
other compensation claims against international companies.
However
Shell has denied the responsibility, stating that leaks were caused by
sabotage. This case has a lot of media attention because it is the first time a
Dutch –registered company had been sued in a Dutch court for offences allegedly
carried out by a foreign subsidiary. Villagers ignited their claim in a civil
court in The Hague, where shell has its joint Global headquarters. Villagers
are holding Shell responsible for pollution from three oil spills between 2004
and 2007. They claimed that their community has lost its good vegetation and
people are getting sick from respiratory problems. Shell says that pollution was caused by thieves breaking
into pipelines to steal the oil, and believe they have played their part in
cleaning it up. Shell stated that
pollution problem in Niger Delta was caused by thieves who steal oil from
shell’s installations. They reported each year $6 billion is stolen in this region, which is about 150,000
barrels of oils everyday.
Nigerian lawyers claimed that it
was insufficient maintenance not sabotage that caused the leaks. Friends of the earth said other
companies could face similar charges if it won the case. Last year, the United Nations
particularly reported Shell is responsible for 50 years of oil pollution that
has devastated many parts of Niger. Case is currently waiting to hear their
verdict by three judges on New Year. This article is important to our class
because many rich oil companies in the world are abusing the environment.
Whether shell is one of them or not is yet to be determined. Our environment and health is being
harmed because of oil spills. We have to take this seriously and penalize the violators
for being a non-ethical company.
No comments:
Post a Comment