This week the UK Supreme Court heard a landmark case against Shell brought by 40,000 people from the Ogale and Bille communities of the Niger Delta, in Nigeria.

Oil spills have contaminated the Niger Delta for over 60 years. As courageous campaigners take the fossil fuel giant to court, will this mark an end to its polluting business model?

The CORE Coalition and the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) have jointly submitted evidence in a landmark case before the UK Supreme Court brought by some 40,000 people from the Niger Delta (Nigeria) against oil major Royal Dutch Shell (Okpabi et al vs Royal Dutch Shell et al).

In this blog, Joseph Maggs explores the landmark case filed against five tech giants in December 2019 – and the “accountability gap” that leads to companies getting away with child labour in their supply chains.

UK parent companies’ legal liability for human rights abuses and environmental damage overseas has been a high-profile topic throughout 2019. This week the UK Supreme Court gave its decisions on Nigerian and Kenyan communities’ requests to appeal in their claims against Shell and Unilever.

Zambia, Barotse Floodplain – November 2012. Photograph by Felix Clay.

In a historic ruling, the UK Supreme Court has allowed 1,826 Zambian villagers to continue to pursue their case (Lungowe v. Vedanta) against UK-based mining giant Vedanta in the UK courts. This blog, by CORE’s Policy and Communications Officer, Louise Eldridge, explores the implications of the ruling. It was originally posted by Africa is a Country.

CORE Coalition and 48 other civil society organisations from around the world are calling on the UK Supreme Court to allow two Nigerian fishing communities to appeal against a ruling that oil giant Shell cannot be held responsible for pipeline spills that devastated their land and livelihoods.

Claire Bright, Research Fellow in Business and Human Rights at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL) write about the obstacles to justice for victims of corporate human rights abuses, and how they might be overcome.

 In January 2019, a group of Zambian farmers brought their fight for justice to the UK Supreme Court, in a case with far-reaching implications for multinational companies. Louise Eldridge explains the background of the case in a blog originally published by Africa is a Country.

Farmer with his livestock, Zambia. Image credit Felix Clay/Duckrabbit, 2012 via WorldFish Flickr (CC).

Carlos Lopez, Senior Legal Adviser at the International Commission of Jurists, and Marilyn Croser, Director of CORE, explore the implications of the interlocutory appeal by the company Vedanta Resources and its Zambian subsidiary KCM to the UK Supreme Court. The company is challenging a Court of Appeal decision to uphold jurisdiction of UK courts in the case and allow the plaintiffs, some 1800 Zambian villagers to pursue their case against both companies in the United Kingdom.