"Nigeria: 2020 could be Shell's year of reckoning", 10 February 2020

In 2020 Shell will face unprecedented legal scrutiny over decades of human rights abuses in Nigeria, Amnesty...said today. Amnesty...has been researching Shell’s activities in the Niger Delta for more than 20 years, compiling compelling evidence of the company’s role in human rights abuses. In a report released today, the organization highlights the various cases that are finally putting Shell’s harmful operations in Nigeria on trial...

...“Shell’s business model has allowed it to benefit from weaknesses in Nigeria’s justice and regulatory systems, wreaking havoc on Nigerian lives and livelihoods while profits continue to flow to its European headquarters. A just transition to clean energy also means holding polluters to account...”, [Mark Dummett, Amnesty's Head of Business, Security and Human Rights].

Due to the difficulties of bringing legal claims in Nigeria, individuals and communities affected by Shell’s operations in Nigeria are bringing cases in the Netherlands and the UK where Shell is headquartered. These could set important precedents for holding polluting multinationals to account...

Kiobel v Shell: In...March [2020] a court in The Hague will hear witness statements in a case brought by four women who accuse Shell of complicity in the unlawful arrest, detention and execution of their husbands by the Nigerian military in 1995. The women are claiming compensation and a public apology from Shell. The executions were the culmination of a brutal campaign by Nigeria’s military to silence protests against Shell’s pollution.

Four Farmers Cases: In May 2020, a final hearing is expected in a case brought against Shell by four Nigerian farmers and Friends of the Earth in 2008. They are seeking compensation from both Netherlands and UK-based Royal Dutch Shell (RDS) and its Nigerian subsidiary Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), for alleged damage to fish ponds and land caused by oil spills.