30 January: Verdict Expected in Court Case on Oil Giant Shell's Nigerian Oil Pollution
Lawyers for both parties pleaded at a key hearing in The Hague today and
the court announced that the verdict is expected on 30 January 2013.
The court case against Shell's oil spills in Nigeria has been filed by
four Nigerian plaintiffs in conjunction with Friends of the Earth
Netherlands and supported by Friends of the Earth Nigeria.
“A positive verdict will have groundbreaking legal repercussions. It
will allow victims of multinational corporations in developing countries
to obtain justice in Europe,“ says Geert Ritsema, globalisation campaign
leader at Friends of the Earth Netherlands / Milieudefensie.
“Due to the poor maintenance of its pipelines and infrastructure Shell
lets tens of millions of barrels of oil leak in Nigeria, with disastrous
consequences for local people and the environment. We hope for a
positive verdict. We hope that Shell will own up to its glaring
pollution. We hope that justice will be done for the four Nigerians who
sued Shell in The Netherlands,“ says Nnimmo Bassey, Executive Director
of Friends of the Earth Nigeria and Chair of Friends of the Earth
International.
In May 2008, four Nigerian fishermen and farmers [2] from the villages
of Goi, Ikot Ada Udo and Oruma, in conjunction with Friends of the Earth
Netherlands / Milieudefensie and supported by Friends of the Earth
Nigeria / ERA, started a legal case against Shell Nigeria and its parent
company in the Netherlands. [3]
“Shell polluted with impunity and destroyed our livelihoods. Several
years after the spills we still see and smell the oil and in some
communities half of the population has respiratory diseases. Shell must
now clean up properly and prevent more oil spills from happening.
Justice has to be done here in The Netherlands and Shell must be held to
account," says one of the four plaintiffs, Eric Dooh from Goi,
Ogoniland, Nigeria.
The serious contamination of the oil rich Niger Delta has had disastrous
consequences for the local people and their environment. Oil leaks
regularly pollute the fields, forests and water. These leaks are a heavy
burden on agriculture and fishing.
Shell is the operator of Nigeria's largest oil fields and bears
significant responsibility for the oil pollution. The UN, among others,
has stated that Shell does not comply with legal environmental standards
and has failed to clean up leaked oil – or has done so only
insufficiently, for decades. Moreover, Shell’s own sustainability report
stated that the number of leaks due to poor maintenance doubled in 2011,
rising from 32 to 64.
NOTES TO EDITORS
[1] PHOTOS OF THE OIL SPILLS, as well as legal documents and fact sheets
about the legal proceedings are available at :
http://www.milieudefensie.nl/english/shell/oil-leaks/courtcase/press and
http://www.milieudefensie.nl/english/shell/oil-leaks/courtcase/press/documents/documents-on-the-shell-legal-case
[2] BIOS, PORTRAITS AND STORIES OF THE PLAINTIFFS are available at :
http://www.milieudefensie.nl/english/shell/oil-leaks/courtcase/plaintiffs
http://www.milieudefensie.nl/english/shell/oil-leaks/courtcase/press/documents/documents-on-the-shell-legal-case
[3] A TIMELINE OF THE COURT CASE is available at :
http://www.milieudefensie.nl/publicaties/factsheets/timeline-courtcase-shell
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Friends of the Earth Netherlands / Milieudefensie press office: Tel: +
31 - 20 - 5507 333 or e-mail persvoorlichting (at) milieudefensie.nl
