Paper short abstract:

The paper aims to explore the impact that oil drilling has on human rights, including the legal obligations of states and courts to prevent, stop and redress human rights abuses through a comparative case study involving Shell Corporation oil extraction in Nigeria and the Ogoni peoples.

Paper long abstract:

The paper aims to explore the impact that oil drilling has on human rights, including the legal obligations of home states and courts to prevent, stop and redress corporate-human rights abuses through a comparative case study involving Shell Corporation oil extraction in Nigeria and the Ogoni peoples. The Ogoni v Nigeria case represents a landmark case on environmental rights protection. In 2003 the African Commission found Nigeria in violation of the right to a satisfactory environment under the African Charter for gross environmental rights violations committed by Royal Dutch Shell against the Ogoni peoples and their territories for fifty years.

Yet, neither the Nigerian government nor Royal Dutch Shell took effective measures to restore the contaminated environment. Twelve years after the adoption of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights stating that corporate businesses have an obligation to respect human rights, Nigeria is still failing Ogoni victims to have their environmental rights protected and denies the Ogonis victims access to judicial remedies for the human rights abuses committed at the hands of Royal Dutch Shell. Thus, this paper examines the obstacles that are encountered by the Ogonis and other victims of corporate-related environmental rights abuses. From a practical perspective, the Corporate-State relationships often result in governments being unable or unwilling to hold corporations to account, protect environmental rights and guarantee access to remedy.