荷兰法庭:尼日利亚农民可因石油泄漏起诉壳牌石油公司

A Dutch appeals court has ruled that a group of Nigerian farmers can sue the international oil company Royal Dutch Shell for pollution the farmers say was from oil leaking from Shell subsidiary pipelines.

The court in The Hague handed down its ruling Friday. The ruling was the first of its kind, meaning it could set a precedent for other Dutch-based companies being sued for the alleged negligence of their subsidiaries elsewhere.

Four Nigerian farmers, backed by the Dutch branch of the environmental group Friends of the Earth, say Shell should clean up oil spills in four villages. They also want Shell to pay compensation to the villagers and prevent further spills.

The plaintiffs first filed their lawsuit in 2008. A lower court in the Netherlands threw out most of the suit in 2013, saying the plaintiffs could not hold the parent company responsible for the spills. It held the subsidiary responsible in one claim, but not in the other three.

But the appeals court Friday ruled in favor of the Nigerians in all four cases. It also ordered Shell to make available the internal documents the plaintiffs could use to support their case.

The presence of international oil companies in the Niger Delta has been a sore point with impoverished locals who are irritated that most of the profits generated from the natural resources in their region are not fed back into their communities. As a result, oil company property is often targeted for sabotage -- a possible cause of the oil spills referenced in the lawsuit.

海牙法庭星期五做出了上述裁决。这类裁决以前从来没有过，意味着可能开创先例，使设在荷兰的其它公司可以因其子公司在其它地方被指称的疏忽行为而受到起诉。

得到环保组织“地球之友“荷兰分部帮助的四名尼日利亚农民说，壳牌石油公司应该清理四个村庄的石油泄漏。他们还要求壳牌石油公司向村民提供赔偿，并防止更多漏油事件的发生。

原告2008年首次提出起诉。荷兰的一个下级法院2013年驳回了其中大部分指控，认为原告不能让母公司为石油泄漏负责，最后只判决让子公司为四项指控中的一项负责。

但是，荷兰上诉法院星期五在所有四项指控中都做出了有利于这些尼日利亚人的判决，并下令壳牌石油公司向原告提供可以用来支持其诉讼的内部文件。

国际石油公司在尼日尔三角洲的运作一直是贫穷的当地人的一个痛点。他们对本地区自然资源所产生的大多数利润没有反馈回他们的社区而感到愤怒，结果，石油公司的财产往往成为被破坏的对象，这也可能是诉讼中提到的石油泄露的原因。