Circassians are calling for a boycott of the Sochi Winter Olympics, demanding that Russia's 19th-century military campaign against their people be recognized as a genocide.
Oil drips from the hands of a man as he digs out crude spilled from a ruptured pipeline in the Niger Delta. In a blow to the legacy of martyred Ogoni activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, a court at The Hague last year… Read moreSlippery justice for victims of oil spills
Nigerian Villagers Lose Lawsuit Against an Oil Giant
by Yemisi Akinbobola, Africa Renewal
In a stunning and dramatic legal ruling that echoed from the serene court chambers in the Netherlands to the heart of rural Niger Delta in Nigeria, the District Court of The Hague dismissed all but one of the lawsuits brought against Royal Dutch Shell, an Anglo-Dutch oil and gas company, by a group of farmers seeking compensation for the environmental damage caused by the company.
The lawsuit was filed in 2008 by four fishermen and farmers accusing Shell of ruining their livelihoods through environmental degradation. The claims centred on oil spills that occurred between 2004 and 2007 at the Ibibio-I oil well in the village of Ikot Ada Udo in Akwa Ibom State. The villagers wanted Shell to repair the damages caused to their communities by cleaning up the oil spillage, adequately maintaining pipelines to prevent future leaks and paying compensation for loss of livelihoods.
Continue ReadingSLIPPERY JUSTICE FOR VICTIMS OF OIL SPILLSAt the Havana peace talks with the Colombian government, the FARC rebels released a proposal to decriminalize and "regulate the production of coca, poppies and marijuana."
Human Rights Watch reports that Syrian authorities deliberately demolished residential neighborhoods with explosives and bulldozers in Damascus and Hama over the last year.
