Radio Mundo Real

Executive Director at Environmental Rights Action – Friends of the Earth Nigeria, Godwin Ojo, said on Monday that the existing mechanisms to bring transnational corporations that violate human rights to justice are inadequate. That is why he considered that a binding treaty on the issue is necessary.

The struggle against the environmental disasters caused by Shell in Nigeria and for this company to be held accountable for what has been considered once and again the world´s worst environmental catastrophe is maybe one of the most renowned cases of environmental and legal struggle at world level. Local inhabitants of the Niger Delta region and international organizations brought the Anglo-Dutch company to justice successfully, in a legal battle that has lasted decades.

This Thursday, in Geneva, a new session of the Intergovernmental Working Group that is discussing the guidelines for a binding treaty on transnational corporations and human rights in the framework of the UN Human Rights Council will take place. Ojo explained why a binding treaty on this issue is necessary and how it would have been helpful in the case against Shell.