## Facts

- The Social and Economic Rights Action Center (SERAC) and the Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR) filed Communication No. 155/96 before the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights on behalf of the Ogoni people in Nigeria’s Niger Delta.
- The complaint concerned oil exploration and production in Ogoniland carried out by a consortium in which Nigeria, through the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), was a majority participant alongside Shell Petroleum Development Corporation (SPDC).
- The complainants alleged that oil operations caused repeated spills, gas flaring, and disposal of toxic waste, contaminating water, soil, and air near villages and farmland.
- They alleged serious health consequences for local communities, including increased incidence of respiratory and gastrointestinal illness and other long-term risks tied to pollution.
- Nigeria allegedly failed to regulate or monitor the oil industry in Ogoniland, did not require standard safety measures, and did not compel environmental or health impact studies despite an evident environmental and health crisis.
- The state allegedly withheld information from the Ogoni about the risks of oil operations, blocked or discouraged independent inquiry, and did not provide a real opportunity for affected communities to participate in decisions affecting their lands and health.
- The complaint alleged that Nigerian security forces were made available to the oil companies and carried out raids on Ogoni communities, burning and destroying homes and villages, damaging food sources, and injuring and killing civilians.
- The communication cited Charter violations including non-discrimination, life, property, health, family protection, peoples’ control of natural resources, and the right of peoples to a satisfactory environment favorable to development.

## Issues

1. Whether Nigeria’s direct involvement in oil production and its failures to regulate and supervise oil operations in Ogoniland violated Articles 2, 4, 14, 16, 18(1), 21, and 24 of the African Charter.
2. Whether the Charter requires states to take affirmative steps to prevent and respond to environmental and health harms caused by private actors operating with state participation or acquiescence.
3. Whether the Charter protects rights not expressly named—such as adequate shelter and adequate food—where they are necessary for effective enjoyment of enumerated rights.

## Decision

- The African Commission (30th Ordinary Session, Oct. 27, 2001) found Nigeria in violation of Articles 2, 4, 14, 16, 18(1), 21, and 24 of the African Charter.
- It held Nigeria responsible both for actions attributable to the state (including use of security forces) and for omissions, including failure to regulate, monitor, and control harmful oil operations and failure to provide information and participation to affected communities.
- The Commission treated the destruction of homes and forced displacement linked to raids and pollution as engaging Article 14 (property) and Article 18(1) (family protection), and it read these provisions together with Article 16 (health) to protect a right to shelter/adequate housing.
- The Commission read the Charter to protect a right to food as necessary to the enjoyment of rights to life and health and the right to development, given allegations of destruction of crops, farmland, and food sources and the resulting threats to survival and health.
- It concluded Nigeria violated Article 16 (health) and Article 24 (satisfactory environment) by failing to prevent pollution, failing to require basic safeguards and impact studies, withholding risk information, and denying meaningful involvement of the affected population in decisions tied to hazardous activities.
- It concluded Nigeria violated Article 21 by allowing destructive exploitation of natural resources in a manner that harmed the Ogoni people and excluded them from control and benefit, while using state power to support oil extraction against community opposition.
- In recommendations, the Commission called on Nigeria to: stop attacks and permit free access to Ogoniland for citizens and independent investigators; investigate the alleged abuses and prosecute officials and other responsible persons; provide compensation, relief, and resettlement for victims; carry out a comprehensive environmental cleanup; require environmental and social impact assessments for future oil development with effective independent oversight; and provide information on health and environmental risks and ensure community access to decision-making bodies.

## Legal Principles

- Charter obligations apply to social and economic rights as well as civil and political rights; effective protection may require giving practical effect to rights tied to health, livelihood, land, and living conditions.
- State duties include duties to respect rights (avoid direct interference), protect rights (stop third parties from violating rights), and fulfil rights (take steps and use institutions and laws to secure enjoyment of rights).
- A state may be responsible for corporate-related harms where it participates in the relevant activity, uses its legal or coercive powers to support private conduct, or fails to regulate, prevent, investigate, and remedy known risks and abuses.
- The right to health (Article 16) requires more than medical care; it can require regulating hazardous industrial activity, monitoring threatened environments, requiring basic safety precautions and impact studies, and providing the public with information on health risks.
- The right of peoples to a satisfactory environment favorable to development (Article 24) supports duties to prevent and address pollution and environmental degradation and to allow independent assessment where serious harm is alleged.
- The Commission treated adequate shelter/adequate housing as protected through combined reading of Articles 14, 16, and 18(1) where state action or tolerated conduct results in destruction of homes and displacement.
- The Commission treated adequate food as protected where state action or tolerated conduct destroys or contaminates food sources and undermines the conditions necessary for life and health, read alongside the Charter’s protections for life, health, and development.
- Article 21 protects peoples against destructive resource exploitation that benefits others while harming local communities; it supports requirements of public accountability and decision-making that accounts for affected peoples’ interests.

## Conclusion

In *Social and Economic Rights Action Center v. Nigeria*, the African Commission held that Nigeria violated multiple African Charter rights in connection with oil exploitation and militarized abuses in Ogoniland, affirming that the Charter imposes affirmative regulatory duties to prevent, investigate, and remedy environmental and socio-economic harms, including harms tied to private oil operations conducted with state participation or support, and recognizing implied protections for shelter and food as necessary to effective enjoyment of enumerated Charter rights.


Social and Economic Rights Action Center v. Nigeria, 2001 WL 34034806 (Afr. Comm’n H.P.R. 2001)