A Dutch court on Wednesday indicted Shell Nigeria of being partly liable for environmental damage and asked it to pay compensation to a Nigerian farmer. The court however rejected a bid to have Shell’s parent company held responsible for oil damage, saying only subsidiary Shell Nigeria was responsible for one oil leak.
Four Nigerian farmers had sued Shell for polluting and destroying their farmlands and rivers.
The court “dismissed all claims against the parent companies… since pursuant to Nigerian law a parent company in principle is not obliged to prevent its subsidiaries from harming third parties abroad,” judge Henk Wien told the court.
Environmental groups had hoped that a ruling against Anglo-Dutch Shell, which is headquartered in the Netherlands, could set a precedent for global responsibility and open the door for hundreds of similar claims.
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| Niger- Delta oil spillage damage |
Judge Wien said that Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary must pay damages to the farmers and fishermen in one of their claims, relating to oil spills near the Niger Delta village of Ikot Ada Udo.
“Shell Nigeria has been sentenced to pay damages in one of the cases. All claims in the other four proceedings have been dismissed,” .
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