Originally posted by the Voice of America.
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           Dutch Court Largely Rejects Nigerians' Case Against Shell

   A Dutch court has largely dismissed a bid by Nigerian farmers to hold
   oil and gas company Royal Dutch Shell responsible for pollution in
   their villages in the Niger Delta.
   The court in The Hague said only the company`s subsidiary, Nigerian
   Shell, will have to pay damages because it did not adequately protect
   against sabotage in one case. It rejected all claims against the parent
   company, saying that under Nigerian law, Shell was not responsible
   unless it operated with negligence.
   The farmers first brought the case in 2008 along with the environmental
   group Friends of the Earth, seeking to force Shell to clean up the
   pollution from oil spills that devastated vegetation, water supplies
   and fishing ponds.
   But Shell said it was doing all it could to contain the impact of its
   operations, and that the spills are largely the work of sabotage by
   armed gangs who hack into pipelines.
   Activists had seen the case as a test of whether international
   companies can be held liable for alleged offenses by their foreign
   subsidiaries.
   The farmers are from the Ogoniland region of southern Nigeria, which
   for decades has been a major source of crude oil. Shell is the top
   multinational company operating in the area.
   In 2011, the United Nations published a report blaming the Nigerian
   government and multinational companies -- especially Shell -- for
   devastating environmental impacts in the Niger Delta. It said cleaning
   up the area would take $1 billion and 25 years.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/dutch-court-largely-rejects-nigerians
   -case-against-shell/1593542.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/dutch-court-largely-rejects-nigerians-case-against-shell/1593542.html