Oil majors face UN heat over abandoned Niger Delta pollution

In letters published on the UN website, the international organization’s Working Group on Business and Human Rights accused the companies of disregarding international law by divesting assets while neglecting cleanup obligations.

Estimates suggest that remediation in just one state could exceed $12 billion, as oil spills have long devastated farming and fishing livelihoods in the region. This move, which shifts the financial burden to new, often less affluent asset owners, is seen as an attempt to evade billions of dollars in environmental remediation costs.

The United Nations intervention is a significant boost for Niger Delta campaigners. Celestine AkpoBari, an Ogoni-born activist who coordinates the Ogoni Solidarity Forum and leads the Miideekor Environmental Development Initiative (MEDI), told Radio France Internationale(RFI),"It gives me great joy that an organization like the UN has added itsvoice to this campaign. I am glad."

According to RFI and the Polluter Pays project, campaign groups believe these letters are legally and ethically significant. Sophie Marjanac, director of legal strategy at Polluter Pays believes they could bolster ongoing legal actions against multinational oil corporations.

"In cases that are presently before the English High Court, human rights obligations may be used to interpret duties of negligence and nuisance," Human rights obligations may be used to interpret duties of negligence and nuisance,” she explained, citing lawsuits by Nigeria’s Bille and Ogale communities, as well as India’s Bodo community.