ABSTRACT
Multinational Oil Corporations (MOCs) are oil prospecting and mining industries with different subsidiaries in joint venture agreement with State owned Oil Companies in different regions of the world. In Nigeria, the activities of these MOCs are most prominent in oil producing communities in the Niger Delta Region. The MOCs operating in Nigeria have impaired the environment of the host communities through negative oil exploration activities resulting in oil pollution that led to increased poverty, unimaginable underdevelopment and human rights violations and violent conflicts. Multinational oil corporations are powerful entities that could not easily be held accountable for their atrocities under domestic jurisdictions because they wield a high influence on host governments coupled with non- justiciability or lax environmental laws that prevail. Therefore, this thesis will examine the
different possibilities for extraterritorial legal action against MOCs by relying on the opportunities provided by American Alien Tort Claims Act of 1798. This work further studied the application of international human rights jurisprudence to provide the linkage between human rights violations and the operations of multinational oil corporations in Nigeria. Hence, this thesis, will “Critically Appraisal of the Impact of the Activities of Multinational Oil Corporations on Human Rights in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria”.
This research work will be divided into seven chapters. Chapter one presents a general introduction of the thesis. Chapter two will consist of definitions and analysis of conceptual frameworks while Chapter three will be an analysis of national and international legal standards on the protection of human rights to development, freedom from exploitation of natural resources, environmental pollution and peace while chapter four will discuss the complicity of multinational oil corporations on human rights violations in the Niger Delta Region. Chapter five will examine the various ways in which the activities of MOCs have affected the development, security situation and limitations on access to justice for litigants challenging illegalities of the Multinational Oil Corporations in the Niger Delta Region. Chapter six will address the linkage between multinational corporations and human rights accountability in home states. Lastly, this thesis will be concluded with chapter seven which presents the summary of findings, conclusion and recommendations in resolving the problems associated with the activities of MOCs operating in Niger Delta Region of Nigeria.
CHAPTER ONE GENERAL INTRODUCTION
1.0 Background of the Study
Since 1956 when oil was discovered in commercial quantity in Oloibiri in present day Bayalsa State, the multinational oil corporations carrying out oil mining operations in the Niger Delta have been involved in activities that have impacted negatively on the rights and well being of people living in the Niger Delta Region. It has been estimated that there are about eighteen international oil companies operating in Nigeria, with a few dominant players such as Shell, Exxon/Mobil, Chevron/Texaco, Elf and Agip accounting for an estimated 99% of the crude oil production.1
There has been an upsurge of concern over human rights and multinational oil corporations (hereinafter referred to as MOCs) in their host communities. A number of significant cases have been documented of apparent collusion between MOCs and host governments in major violations of human rights. These have been brought to public attention in the media through the actions of concerned individuals and groups, most notably by non- governmental organizations (NGOs) concerned with human rights. Among the most
publicized cases have been the operations of Shell in Ogoniland,2 BP in Colombia,3 and
1Amarachi Okorie, “Nigerian Oil: The Role of Multinational Oil Companies”, E297c Term Paper, Spring Quarter 2005, p.6. The oil industry in Nigeria is operated by six-joint venture operations between Nigeria and the Trans-National Corporations: Shell (Netherlands/UK), Exxon Mobil (US) Chevron-Texaco (US), AGIP (Italy), and Elf-Aquitaine (France). The Nigerian government under the auspices of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (‘NNPC) operates in partnership with these multinational companies. See Alison Shinsato, “Increasing Accountability of Transnational Corporations for Environmental Harms: The Petroleum Industry in Nigeria”,4 North-western University Journals of International Human Rights. 186 available online at http://www.law.northwestern.edu/journals/v4/nl, visited 13 November, 2010.
2 See Human Rights Watch, Nigeria, the Ogoni crisis: a case study of military repression in south east Nigeria (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1995); Ben Naanen, ‘Oil producing minorities and the restructuring of Nigerian federalism: the case of the Ogoni people’, Journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics 33,
1995, p.45; Eghosa Osaghae, ‘The Ogoni uprising: oil, politics, minority agitation and the future of the Nigerian state’, African Affairs 94, 1991, p. 325; S. Skogly, ‘Complexities in human rights protection: actors and rights involved in the Ogoni conflict in Nigeria’, NQHR 15: 52, 1997; Heike Fabig, ‘The Body Shop and the Ogoni’, in Michael Addo, ed., Human rights standards and the responsibility of transnational corporations (The Hague: Kluwer Law International, 1999), pp. 309–21.
3 BP Accused of Funding Colombian Death Squads’, Observer, 20 Oct. 1996, pp. 1, 18.
Unocal in Burma (Myanmar), Royal Dutch Shell in the United States and the last of these having led to landmark litigations in 2012 and 2013 in the Netherlands.4 Thus, there is a prima facie, problem that multinationals can take part in alleged violations of human rights.5
It is suffice to state that gross human rights violations by Multinational Oil Corporations in connivance with host state security agencies has led to forced displacement, forced labour, genocide and torture and these issues have long made international news headlines and have been on the political agenda of the international community. In a changing and globalized world, it is no longer arguable that human rights violations are solely associated with governments, but also with multinational corporations (MNCs). Evidence of these, has been documented abuses ranging from health and safety violations in the workplace, to murder, torture, and forced displacement in the hands of military and security forces protecting company facilities. Indeed, attention to corporate human rights responsibility, is an issue of significance for contemporary business practice, and there is need for regulative/legislative
outreach to non-state actors like the Multinational Oil Corporations.6 At the domestic level,
most countries do not have national legislation establishing the extra-territorial duties of corporations with respect to human rights.7
1.1 Statement of the Problem
4Friends of the Earth International, “Dutch Court Ruling Against Shell A Partial Victory”, Friends of the Earth International, Press Release, January 30, 2013. The Hague, The Netherlands, January 30, 2013 a Dutch court ruled that Shell Nigeria is responsible for polluting farmlands in a landmark case brought by four Nigerian farmers and Friends of the Earth Netherlands. The court said Shell’s subsidiary is accountable for damage caused by oil spills at Ikot Ada Udo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. See also in the matter with case number / docket number: C/09/337050 / HA ZA 09-1580 of Friday Alfred Akpan and Vereniging Milieudefensie , domiciled in Amsterdam, Netherlands v. Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Shell Petroleum Development Company Of Nigeria Ltd.
5 Peter T. Muchlinski, “Human Rights and Multinationals: Is there a Problem”, International Affairs 77, 2001 at p. 31.
6Caroline Kaeb., “Emerging Issues of Human Rights Responsibility in the Extractive and Manufacturing
Industries: Patterns and Liability Risks”, Northwestern Journal of International Human Rights, Volume 6, Issue
2, Spring 2008 at p.1.
7Peter Muchilinski, Corporate Social Responsibility and International Law: the Case of Human Rights and
Multinational Enterprises, in the New Corporate Accountability 431, 449–50 (Doreen McBarnet et al. eds.,
2007).
Since the discovery of oil in Nigeria, the Niger Delta has been suffering from the negative environmental consequences of oil development. The growth of the country’s oil industry, and the lack of enforcement of environmental regulations has led to substantial damage to the environment, especially in the Niger Delta Region. The harmful effects of oil spill on the environment are many: Oil kills plants and animals in the estuarine zone. Oil pollution destroys soil nutrients and makes the soil infertile for crop production. The inhabitants who depend on the soil for their survival are hard hit as their means of livelihood become impaired. Oil settles on beaches and kills organisms that live there, It also settles on ocean floor and kills benthic (bottom-dwelling) organisms such as crabs. Oil poisons algae, disrupts major food chains and decreases the yield of edible crustaceans. It also coats birds, impairing their flight or reducing the insulative property of their feathers, thus making the birds more vulnerable to cold. Oil endangers fish hatcheries in coastal waters and as well contaminates the flesh of commercially valuable fish. In the Nigerian coastal environment a large areas of the mangrove ecosystem have been destroyed. The mangrove which was once a source of both fuel wood for the indigenous people and a habitat for the area’s biodiversity,
but is now unable to survive the oil toxicity of its habitat.8
Multinational Oil Corporations have increased the rate of man-made environmental destruction and concomitant harm to humans in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria. Indigenous groups like the Ogonis, Ijaws, and other ethnic minority groups in the Niger Delta are often affected the most severely; such that their sustainable lifestyle becomes impossible as natural resources are decimated by the mining activities of these oil corporations. Nigeria government lacks the will power to implement and enforce strict regulatory standards on oil mining corporations considering their advantage to her economy. Moreover, government of
Nigeria often regard economic investment by the oil companies and, in turn, the development
8 Peter C. Nwilo and Olusegun T. Badejo, “Impacts and Management of Oil Spill Pollution along the Nigerian
Coastal Areas”, 2007 at p.6. Available online at www.fig.net/pub/figpub/pub36/chapters/chapter_8.pdf, visited
10 December, 2013.
of the economy as of primary importance, as such the concern for the environment falls by the wayside. The peoples of Niger Delta region are often face with the repressive and tremendous financial and political clout the transnational oil companies wield, and, moreover, the current body of Nigerian and international law fails to provide victims with an adequate legal remedy against them. Major cases against MOCs for human rights violations committed abroad have been brought in both U.S courts under the U.S. Alien Tort Statute and European
domestic courts particularly in Britain and the Netherlands.9
Multinational Oil Corporations in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria have been involved in violating human rights in the region which include the rights to life, right to enjoy life; freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment; freedom from arbitrary detention or deprivation of security of the person; freedom to enjoy property; freedom from deprivation of or injury to health; enjoyment of a clean and healthy environment.10 The Nigerian government hosting these multinational corporations, perceiving the need to choose between development and individual rights, have opted for the former and abdicated their
responsibilities to protect their own citizens. Ordinarily, it is Nigeria’s primary responsibility to respect and protect the citizens’ human rights vis-`a-vis business actors, like multinational oil corporations. However, their incentives to do so are often weak and their capacity to regulate effectively the multinational corporations is frequently lacking. These issues have led to legal, human rights, developmental debates and security challenges in the
region11 which necessitated the reasons for embarking on this research.
1.2 Research Questions
9 Caroline Kaeb, op. cit, at p. 328.
10See Fons Coomans, “The Ogoni Case before the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights”
International and Comparative Law Quarterly, Vol. 52, July 2003,:749-760. p.1.
11 Christen Broecker, “Better the Devil You Know”: Home State Approaches to Transnational Corporate
Accountability”, International Law and Politics, Vol. 41:159, 2008 at p.161.
The central question explored in this research is: how did the activities of Multinational Oil Corporations result in flagrant human rights violations in the oil producing communities of the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria and whether the rights violated is capable of enforcement through existing human rights provisions under Nigerian law?
In order to answer this broad research question, this thesis explores further the following specific questions: (a). what are the impacts of the activities of Multinational Oil Corporations on the inhabitants of host communities in the Niger Delta region. (b) In what ways did the activities of Multinational Oil Corporations lead to underdevelopment of the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria? (c). Why did Nigerian laws and policies constitute a hindrance on access to environmental justice among the affected population in the Niger Delta Region and what are the available legal remedies that could be invoked against the Multinational Oil Corporations for their liabilities in the face of weak regulatory frameworks of the Nigerian government and (d) What are the available national, regional and international legal regimes that can be applicable as a result of the wanton activities of the MNCs in the Niger Delta region.
These core research questions will constitute the focus of detailed examination in the course of this research exercise and will form the basis of the findings and recommendations in this thesis.
1.3 Objectives of this Research
The main objective of this research is to examine the impact of the activities of Multinational Oil Corporations on Human Rights in the Niger Delta Region. This thesis will underscore the human rights violations resulting from the activities of the MOCs and how it has grossly affected the well being of people living in the Niger Delta. This research will seek to establish a linkage between environmental degradation, violent attacks and general insecurity in the Niger Delta region. It will also assess the activities of Multinational Oil
Corporations and its effects on sustainable development in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria. This work will further seek solutions that will help in resolving the age long environmental and human rights problems facing the region due to the negative impacts of oil exploration and exploitation by the Multinational Oil Corporations. Useful recommendations based on applicable local and international best standards were suggested in resolving the problems resulting from the impact of oil company activities in the Niger Delta Region.
1.4 Significance of this Research
This research is significant because it will help to fill the gap in existing literatures regarding the linkage between the activities of multinational oil corporations and human rights violations in their host communities. The findings of this research will be useful to academic researchers, legal practitioners and human rights advocates in their quest to liberate the suffering people of the Niger Delta Region. This thesis hopes to encourage policymakers, advocates, political and business leaders in Nigeria and at the international levels to recognize and embrace the potential for a dynamic interaction between Multinational Corporations, states, and international bodies in the area of business and human rights, particularly through home state regulations that promote respect for human rights. The recommendations in this thesis will be a useful guide to policy makers and it will lead to an overall improvement in the live pattern of the people of Niger Delta region. The recommendations will assist in restoration of their natural habitat and forthwith prevent the oil companies from further depleting the environment through negative oil exploration adventures by adopting local and international best standards in the oil exploration activities. Above all, the most significant aspect of this thesis, is that, it will lead to the realization of the human rights of the indigenous peoples in the oil producing communities of the Niger Delta Region and stem the tide of violent uprising resulting from the reaction of the people to the oppressive attitude of
the multinational oil corporation in joint venture with the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation.
1.5 Methodology of this Research
The methodology applied in this research is doctrinal. It involves extensive literature review involving the use of primary and secondary source materials. The primary source materials are the statements of the law relied upon which includes: statutes, case laws and international treaties, while the secondary source materials which discusses, explain, interpret, and analyze what the law is include: textbooks (encyclopedias, law dictionaries, etc), journals articles, law reviews, case studies, surveys, reports, conference proceedings/papers and on-line documents related to the activities of multinational oil corporations in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria. Relevant academic literatures from various fields such as human rights law, company law, politics, history, environmental law and policy, oil and gas law, sociology, and other materials relevant to the subject matter were consulted and duly referred to as secondary source materials.
1.6 Scope of this Study
The scope of this thesis, borders on Niger Delta Region of Nigeria and include the oil producing states of Abia, Akwa Ibom, Baylesa, Cross Rivers, Delta, Edo, Imo, Ondo and Rivers State. This research will also examine human rights issues resulting from the negative activities of Multinational Oil Corporations in the oil producing communities. This thesis will study related events from 1956 when oil was first discovered in Niger Delta till 2009 when the Amnesty Programme was declared by the Federal Government to stem the tide of violent militant activities and youth restiveness because of the activities of MOCs in the Niger Delta Region.
1.7 Limitations of this Study
This thesis could not examine the different palliative mechanisms established by the Federal government of Nigeria to address the environmental problems associated with oil exploitation and underdevelopment of the Niger Delta Region, such as national boards, Trust funds, commissions and the newly established Ministry of the Niger Delta Affairs to address the problems of the region. This is because they did not achieve the set objectives for which they were established rather they served purely political reasons meant to continue the domination of the people of the Niger Delta. Also documents dealing with the actions of MOCs on oil field practices in the region are not available except their annual reports, and press releases which are often subject of gross manipulations in favour of the oil companies and as such could be difficult to reply upon in arriving at a body of knowledge meant to address human rights situation of people in the Niger Delta Region. Again most government records from the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Ministry of Environment and Department of Petroleum Resources relating to the activities of the MOCs in the Niger Delta region are not accessible because they are referred to as classified documents.
1.8 Structure of this Research
This thesis comprises of six chapters. Chapter one is general introduction of the issues that led to this academic inquiry. Chapter two deals with definitions and clarification of conceptual framework, chapter three analysis the national and international legal standards on the protection of human rights to development, freedom from exploitation of natural resources, environmental pollution and peace, while chapter four will involve a discussion on the complicity of multinational oil companies on human rights violations in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria. Chapter five will discuss the various ways in which the activities of MOCs have affected the development, security situation and limitations on access to justice for litigants challenging the impunity and environmental irresponsibility of the Multinational Oil Corporations in the Niger Delta Region. Chapter six will address the linkage between
globalization, multinational corporations and human rights accountability in home states. Chapter seven will be the concluding chapter and it will be a summary of the findings of the research, together with concluding remarks and recommendations of practical solutions that will lead to solving the human rights and environmental problems associated with the activities of Multinational Oil Corporations in the Niger Delta Region.
1.9 Literature Review
In search for an enduring framework for this research work, reliance was placed on existing studies in the same field and it is evident that there has been abundant texts, journal articles and papers, written by different authors about Multinational Oil Corporations, Human Rights Violation in Nigeria, Oil Pollution, Gas Flaring, Environmental Degradation, Law and Petroleum, Oil Exploration and Exploitation in Niger Delta Region of Nigeria by different scholars under different subjects but none has been written on the topic: “A Critical Appraisal of the Impact of the Activities of Multinational Oil Corporations on Human Rights in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria”, and this formed the basis of this research in other to fill the obvious gap that exist in available literatures and provide a modern understanding of the relationship between the activities of MOCs and human rights violations in oil producing areas of Nigeria.
This material content is developed to serve as a GUIDE for students to conduct academic research
A CRITICAL APPRAISAL OF THE IMPACT OF THE ACTIVITIES OF MULTINATIONAL OIL CORPORATIONS ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE NIGER DELTA REGION OF NIGERIA>
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