## Facts

- Social & Economic Rights Action Center (SERAC) and The Center for Economic & Social Rights (CESR) filed a communication to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights under Article 55 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
- At the time, Nigeria was governed by a military regime. The government participated in oil production in Ogoniland through a consortium that included Shell Petroleum Development Corporation (SPDC) and Nigeria’s state oil interests.
- The complainants alleged that oil operations caused severe environmental contamination and related harm to the Ogoni people, including the disposal of toxic waste into local waters and poor maintenance of facilities that led to multiple, avoidable oil spills near villages.
- The pollution contaminated land, air, and water. Reported impacts included infections and other illnesses, as well as increased long-term risks such as higher cancer risk.
- The contamination also damaged livelihoods by harming fishing and farming in Ogoniland.
- The complainants alleged that the government failed to supervise or control the oil companies’ practices, did not enforce safety standards, and did not take reasonable measures to prevent or address environmental damage.
- Nigeria allegedly failed to disclose information about the dangers associated with oil operations and excluded the Ogoni people from decision-making about oil development in their territory.
- Nigeria allegedly failed to carry out health or environmental impact studies and refused to allow environmental groups or independent scientists to conduct assessments.
- The allegations included violent repression of Ogoni opposition to the oil operations. The government allegedly responded to protests by killing Ogoni leaders.
- Over a multi-year period, Nigerian security forces allegedly attacked several Ogoni villages, burning homes and villages in response to nonviolent opposition and causing displacement.
- Security personnel allegedly destroyed crops and slaughtered farm animals, contributing to food shortages and starvation in some villages.
- The complainants alleged that operations involved combined forces (police and branches of the military) using heavy weaponry, and that the army acknowledged participation in operations that displaced thousands of residents.
- Nigeria allegedly failed to investigate or punish those responsible for the attacks and related abuses.

## Issues

1. Whether Nigeria violated the African Charter by directly participating in, tolerating, or failing to prevent and remedy environmental harm and related abuses arising from oil production in Ogoniland.
2. Whether the African Charter imposes positive duties on states to regulate and control private actors whose activities threaten Charter rights, including through monitoring, information disclosure, and access to participation in decisions affecting local communities.
3. Whether the Charter’s protections of life, health, property, family, and development also require protection of basic needs such as adequate shelter and access to food where state conduct or state-backed actions destroy homes, crops, and subsistence resources.

## Decision

- The African Commission found Nigeria in violation of Articles 2, 4, 14, 16, 18(1), 21, and 24 of the African Charter.
- The Commission held Nigeria responsible both for abuses committed by state security forces and for failing to regulate, monitor, and control oil operations that caused serious environmental and health harm to the Ogoni.
- The Commission treated the destruction of homes and villages and the failure to safeguard living conditions as violating Charter protections, including through the combined operation of Articles addressing health, property, and protection of the family.
- The Commission concluded that Nigeria’s handling of oil exploitation and its exclusion of the Ogoni from decisions over resources and benefits breached peoples’ rights relating to natural resources under Article 21.
- The Commission recommended that Nigeria take remedial steps that included:
  - Investigating the reported violations and prosecuting those responsible.
  - Providing compensation and other relief to victims, including help for displaced persons.
  - Cleaning up polluted lands and waterways and addressing ongoing environmental and health risks.
  - Requiring environmental and social impact assessments for future oil development and establishing effective oversight of oil industry practices.
  - Making relevant information available to affected communities and enabling meaningful participation in decisions affecting Ogoniland, including allowing independent access for assessment and monitoring.

## Legal Principles

- State responsibility under the African Charter extends to both (i) direct state action that violates protected rights and (ii) state omissions where authorities fail to take reasonable measures to prevent or respond to rights harms linked to private industrial activity.
- The duty to protect requires regulation and control of private actors where their operations foreseeably threaten Charter rights; a state cannot avoid responsibility by relying on the formal private status of corporate participants.
- Article 24’s right to a satisfactory environment favorable to development requires measures to prevent pollution and ecological degradation and to respond with remediation when environmental damage occurs.
- Article 16’s right to health includes protection against major environmental determinants of disease and requires basic steps such as monitoring hazardous activity and providing information about health risks.
- Articles 14 and 18(1), read with related Charter guarantees, require states to refrain from and prevent destruction of homes and living areas by state agents, and to provide protection where living conditions are seriously harmed by state-backed activity.
- Article 21 protects peoples’ rights in relation to natural resources; exclusion of affected communities from decisions and state use of power that enables extraction while harming local welfare can violate this provision.
- Effective remedies under the Charter include investigation, accountability measures, compensation, environmental cleanup, and safeguards to prevent recurrence, including impact assessment and access to information and participation.

## Conclusion

In SERAC and CESR v. Nigeria, the African Commission held that Nigeria’s role in, and failure to control, oil operations in Ogoniland—together with violent repression and lack of accountability—breached multiple African Charter rights, and it called for investigation and prosecution, compensation and relief, environmental remediation, and stronger assessment, oversight, information access, and community participation going forward.


Social & Economic Rights Action Center & The Center for Economic & Social Rights v. Nigeria, Comm. 155/96, 15th Annual Activity Report (2001)