New law in Nigeria could hold polluters to account
Blog post -
Feb 18, 2014
Last week, a letter coordinated by Platform and signed by 18 organisations was published in the Nigerian media. The letter focussed on a new piece of legislation designed to improve the response to oil spills. In 2012, Senator Dr. Bukola Saraki, the Chair of the Senate committee for the environment tabled a bill aimed at strengthening...
Activists intervene in Shell lawsuit
Blog post -
May 22, 2012
Amnesty International and CORE have challenged the UK government’s attempt to block a court case that seeks to hold Shell accountable for its role in human rights violations in Nigeria. Platform supports the coalition of groups challenging the UK government and calling on it to reverse its position. The FT reports:
UK DfID implicated in money-laundering investigation
Blog post -
Apr 16, 2012
Our friends at Corner House and Jubilee Debt Campaign have monitored how the UK government has given aid money to corrupt private equity firms in Nigeria. Below is the press release. It’s long, but well worth reading if you want understand how Western aid policy can undermine development. Campaigners slam Government’s development approach as DfID-backed...
Shell oil spills reach new peak; Nigeria hit hard
Blog post -
Apr 13, 2012
From Milieu Defensie (Friends of the Earth Netherlands): Amsterdam – Shell has released its 2011 Sustainability Report. The figures reveal that the number of leaks (208 worldwide) has risen for the first time since 2003: globally, Shell has leaked a total of 6.7 million litres of oil. That is the second highest peak this millennium....
11,000 Nigerians sue Shell in London courts
Blog post -
Mar 23, 2012
From Leigh Day & Co: Six months after Shell admitted liability following two massive oil spills in the Niger Delta, law firm Leigh Day & Co are serving formal legal proceedings tomorrow (Friday 23 March 2012) on the oil giant in the High Court in London for compensation on behalf of over 11,000 Nigerians after...
Shell to pay $25m to Nigerian communities over oil spill
Blog post -
Mar 21, 2012
From UPI.com: Shell Petroleum Development Co. was ordered by a Nigerian court to pay more than $25 million to five communities in Imo state for a 1997 oil spill. The communities sued Shell for compensation for immediate direct losses to their means of livelihood caused by the oil spill, The Guardian in Oshodi, Nigeria, reported Tuesday....
Hold Shell accountable for human rights abuses in Nigeria
Blog post -
Feb 28, 2012
A global coalition of NGOs, human rights monitors, academics and analysts have joined Platform in sending a letter to the Board members of Royal Dutch Shell and Shell Nigeria which holds Shell to account for its role in recent human rights abuses in Nigeria. Below is a short extract from the letter: Today the US...
Top 7 Resources for Kiobel v Shell @ #SCOTUS
Blog post -
Feb 27, 2012
Tomorrow the Supreme Court of the United States hears Kiobel v Shell, a case that alleges Shell aided and abetted human rights violations and crimes against humanity committed by the Nigerian military against the Ogoni people from 1992 onwards. The case has significance for the global movement for corporate accountability. The outcome in Kiobel will...
The Big 3: oil co’s and legal cases this month
Blog post -
Feb 16, 2012
Three of the world’s biggest private oil companies face landmark legal actions this February. Here is a brief run down of the main cases, what they are about and why they matter. 1. US v BP At the centre of the legal fallout from BP’s Deepwater Horizon disaster in April 2010 is a complex civil...
Tullow sues Heritage – Uganda pays the price; court papers published for $300m oil trial
Blog post -
Nov 28, 2011
Guestblog by Taimour Lay, Former Platform researcher, Uganda and DRC. Download the full court papers (30 megabytes) A court case in London between Tullow and Heritage will reveal much of what went wrong in the battle over Uganda’s oil. It is a long way from the shores of Lake Albert to the new commercial court...
Shell hit with $1bn US lawsuit over Nigeria pollution
Blog post -
Oct 21, 2011
Within a day of the US Supreme Court decision to hear the case of Kiobel v Shell, which accuses Shell of complicity in crimes against humanity and human rights abuses in Nigeria during the 1990s, the oil giant was hit by another class action lawsuit for 50 years of pollution in the Niger Delta. AFP...
An abdication of responsibility
Blog post -
Sep 15, 2011
When a government responds to one of the worst oil spills in its waters for a decade by appointing the former Chairman of Shell to advise on cutting regulation of the offshore oil and gas industry, something has clearly gone wrong. If the government wants to ramp up extraction from deeper waters but is unwilling to...
