An appeals court in the Netherlands on Friday ordered Royal Dutch Shell to pay compensation to Nigerian farmers over oil pollution in the Niger Delta.
The court delivered its judgment at the end of a long-running civil case. The farmers were seeking financial compensation and a clean-up by Shell for pollution caused by pipelines leaking oil into the Niger Delta.
“Shell Nigeria is sentenced to compensate farmers for damages,” the court said. The bench added that parent company Royal Dutch Shell was also liable to install detection equipment that could prevent future damage on the Oruma pipeline, the site of a significant number of the spills.A key issue in the case is the principle of whether multinationals in the Netherlands can be held responsible for the actions of their subsidiaries abroad. While the court did not hold the parent company directly responsible, the order to install a leak detection system did indicate a degree of liability. (DW)