The
United Nations Human Rights Council sitting in Geneva, has passed a resolution
to hold transnational companies, especially in the oil and gas sector,
accountable for environmental and human rights abuses in Nigeria, and anywhere
in the world that they operate.
The
Executive Director, Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth, Dr.
Godwin Ojo, disclosed this at a press briefing in Lagos.
Ojo
said the Human Rights Council overwhelmingly voted against Transnational
Corporations’ TNC voluntary mechanisms and instead voted for an International
legally binding mechanism to regulate the activities of TNCs relating to the
protection of human rights.
The
victory, Ojo noted, marks another
watershed in the struggle for environmental
justice since environmental rights are human rights.
The
resolution, according to him, was jointly sponsored by Ecuador and South Africa,
and is the result of pressure by communities, local and international NGOs and
social movements across the world demanding change to save people and the
environment.
He
said, “ERA/FoEN and its allies including Friends of the Earth International, Oilwatch
and Host Communities Network, have been in the forefront of these struggles.
Although there were many black legs within the UN system to scuttle the voting,
the majority countries including Nigeria carried the day and the sense of
corporate capture of the UN was jolted. The resolution for a uniform legally
binding instrument was supported by over 610 organisations, 400 individuals,
and 95 countries while 13 states abstained.”
Chair
of Friends of the Earth International, Jagoda Munic, reacting to the resolution
said: “This is indeed a significant and historic victory; a much needed
resolution for those who defend the environment, human rights and sustainable
livelihoods from the violations of big business. It shows movement building can
really change the power balance and expose US and EU commitments to the
corporate agenda. “In a nutshell, this victory means expanding access to
justice, right to protest and protection of environmental defenders, reparation
and remediation of damaged environment and livelihoods, and criminal liability
for corporate offenders.”
Speaking
on the implications of the resolutions, Ojo said: “This monumental victory
comes with mixed reactions. First, it means that the decades of mobilising and
resistance by local, national and international Civil Society Organisations
working to ensure environmental and social justice were never in vain. Its
shows that people’s power is significant.
“Second,
a uniform binding mechanism will ensure that environmental racism as practiced
by TNCs, Shell and other oil companies in Nigeria will come to an end because
the same standards deployed in Europe and America, will be the same standards
to be applied in Nigeria and elsewhere.
“Thirdly,
it would halt corporate impunity that is undermining national governments and
institutions such as Nigeria. Here, the disdain of Shell against national
oversight agencies such as NOSDRA and NIMASA, will likely come to an end.
Vanguard
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