By Besir Ozbek, Floriane Borel, and Mitch Paquette
Each week students at the University of Essex Human Rights Centre prepare an overview of the past week’s human rights related news stories from around the world.
This week’s story in focus
A court in The Hague, Netherlands heard the first arguments on Tuesday, February 12th in a suit against Royal Dutch Shell Plc alleging the company’s complicity in the executions of nine Ogoni activists by the Nigerian authorities in 1995. The case is brought by four widows who claim that their husbands were targeted for their participation in protests against Shell’s subsidiary in Nigeria. One of the claimants who testified on Tuesday, Esther Kiobel, originally filed a case against Shell in the United States, but the Supreme Court ruled in 2013 that the US did not have jurisdiction. They seek compensation and a public apology for the company’s role in violations of their husbands’ physical integrity, right to a fair trial, and right to life, as well as their own right to a family life. Shell denies any connection to the executions.
Ogoni widows outside the court room in The Hague (Photograph: Pierre Crom/Getty Images)
The allegations in the case concern the Nigerian military’s repression of Ogoni protests against Shell’s pollution during the 1990s, which resulted in widespread human rights violations. Environmental activists continue to face tremendous risk across the globe. Last year 77% of the 321 activists targeted and killed for their work were defending land and environmental rights.
