Non-adherence of MNOCs to corporate obligations: a review of litigation from the Niger Delta.

Multinational oil companies (MNOCs) claim that they have several corporate obligations to protect human rights and the environment in which they operate, and to resolve with local communities any disputes arising from their operations in the shortest possible time. However, the combative approach by MNOCs in recent transnational human rights and environmental litigations from the Niger Delta undermines these obligations, because they continually deny, delay and derail justice for the local communities. The central question is whether there is a conflict between the portrayal of these companies' positions before the courts and the portrayal of their positions in their corporate obligations (e.g. sustainability reports, securities filings, court filings, etc.), in terms of their approach toward the local communities in which they operate. This thesis investigates how MNOCs derail human rights and environmental litigations from the Niger Delta. Previous work pays little or no attention to how litigations are affected by the non-adherence of MNOC's to their corporate obligations regarding human rights and the environment. Legal frameworks to address derailments in litigations are merely suggested at the international levels and lack adequate legal instruments (e.g. constitutional, legislative and regulatory) at the national levels. This thesis adopts a combination of doctrinal research and comparative analysis methodology to address the derailments in litigations arising from the Niger Delta. Firstly, we review seven transnational human rights and environmental litigations from the Niger Delta to evaluate how the non-adherence of MNOCs to their corporate obligations affects litigations. Secondly, we investigate the mechanisms used by MNOC to derail human rights and environmental litigations. Thirdly, we develop a legal framework and recommendations for addressing derailments in litigations in the Niger Delta. This research suggests that an appropriate level of engagement with stakeholders during litigations will improve human rights and environmental protection in partnerships with local governments, NGOs and local communities

Mechanisms used by multinational oil companies to derail human rights and environmental litigations arising from the Niger Delta.

Multinational oil companies (MNOCs) usually claim that they have several obligations to protect human rights and the environment where they operate and to resolve any disputes with local communities arising from their operations in the shortest possible time. However, the combative approach taken by MNOCs (e.g. several interlocutory appeals, challenging the legal standing of plaintiffs) during human rights and environmental litigations undermines these obligations because it continually denies, delays, and derails justice for the local communities. The aim of this paper is to discuss the mechanisms used by MNOCs to derail human rights and environmental litigations arising from the Niger Delta. This paper uses a comparative legal approach combined with a cross-case analysis of a selection of transnational litigations to highlight several mechanisms that fall into eight (8) categories related to oil operations – transparency, disclosure, bribery and corruption, labour/employee rights, safety and security, delays in litigations, pollution, remediation and compensation. The paper concludes that mechanisms used by MNOCs (e.g., Shell), as indicated in recent ligations arising from the Niger Delta, are at odds with their human rights obligations, thus affecting effective remedies for the people whose human rights have allegedly been affected by corporate conduct

MNOC's level of engagement with human rights obligations in transnational litigations from the Niger Delta.

The approach that Multinational Oil companies (MNOCs) use to comply with their human rights obligations translates to the different levels of engagement with stakeholders. For example, concerns regarding alleged human rights and environmental violations of MNOCs usually starts with a notification, and then a formal complaint and if this is handled improperly will result in litigation. The ways MNOCs handles the disputes reflects whether the company pursues an inactive, reactive, active or proactive level of engagement with its human right obligations. This paper evaluates each level of engagement against a selected set of transnational human rights and environmental litigations arising from the Niger Delta. This evaluation reveals that MNOCs with a proactive approach considers the engagement and implementation of their human right obligations as a shared societal responsibility and are more inclined to looking at the background of the complaint to solve the underlying problems in collaboration with all stakeholders. This paper, therefore, concludes that a proactive approach will lead to an improvement in human rights and environmental protection, in partnerships with local governments, local communities and NGOs