By CIVICUS
Jul 29 2025 –  
CIVICUS speaks with Matthew Renshaw, a partner at a UK law firm that represents Nigerian communities taking legal action against Shell over environmental damage caused by its operations in the Niger Delta.

Matthew Renshaw

Two Nigerian communities, Bille and Ogale, are suing Shell in the UK over decades of oil spills in the Niger Delta that have devastated their land, water and way of life. The High Court has ruled that Shell and its former Nigerian subsidiary can be held liable for ongoing environmental damage, even if caused by oil theft or sabotage, and regardless of how long ago the spills occurred. The decision builds on a 2021 Supreme Court ruling that allowed UK-based parent companies to be sued for harm abroad. A full trial is set for March 2027.

How has oil pollution affected these communities?

Each of the three communities we represent in the Niger Delta have been affected by Shell’s operations in different ways.

The Bodo community endured two major oil spills from Shell pipelines in 2008 that released over half a million barrels of oil, causing the largest devastation of mangrove habitat in history. Families who once depended on fishing can no longer provide for themselves. Even swimming in the waterways is dangerous due to oil contamination. Despite bringing the case before UK courts in 2011, the community is still demanding a proper cleanup that they say has never materialised.

As for the Bille and Ogale communities, they brought their cases against Shell in the UK in 2015. The Ogale community depends primarily on farming and fishing, but since the 1980s, Shell has recorded around 100 spills in and around the area that have resulted in serious contamination of the drinking water. The United Nations conducted tests in 2011 and declared a public health emergency, but very little was done in response. Shell briefly provided safe water to residents, but that ended years ago. With no alternative sources available, many people have been forced to use visibly polluted water to drink and bathe their children.

The Bille community lives on islands in a riverine area where residents depend heavily on fishing and harvesting shellfish. A major pipeline runs directly through the community, very close to where people live. Between 2011 and 2013, multiple oil spills from Shell destroyed mangrove habitats. As with the Bodo community, fishing has become impossible for many people, forcing some to abandon their homes and communities entirely.

Why sue in the UK rather than Nigeria?

The decision to sue Shell in the UK came from our clients. While Shell operates in Nigeria through a local subsidiary, the parent company is based in the UK and has profited immensely from its Niger Delta operations, so our clients view it as equally responsible for the pollution in their communities.

They also believe they can’t get justice in Nigeria. The Nigerian legal system is notoriously slow: cases can take decades to reach judgement due to automatic rights of appeal. Many people won’t live to see justice. Bringing this type of case before Nigerian courts is also prohibitively expensive, because it requires extensive expert evidence that’s inaccessible to most affected communities.

In contrast, UK funding mechanisms make it far more feasible for our clients to pursue justice. They also trust they’ll receive a fairer hearing in London. This approach has already shown results: in the Bodo case, Shell finally brought in international experts to attempt cleanup. International litigation generates meaningful outcomes that wouldn’t happen otherwise.

Even when Shell argued that the case should be heard in Nigeria, in 2021 the UK Supreme Court ruled that because Shell PLC may share responsibility with its subsidiary, the case could proceed in London.

How is Shell defending itself?

Shell claims that most Niger Delta pollution stems from oil theft by local criminals, commonly known as ‘bunkering’. According to Shell, these criminals steal oil from pipelines to sell directly or refine into fuel. The company insists its operations are clean and criminals are to blame, arguing it’s doing its best to stop theft and therefore shouldn’t be held responsible.

This defence is fundamentally flawed. While oil theft is certainly a significant problem in Nigeria, Shell’s claims are overstated. Numerous spills have nothing to do with theft. They’re caused simply by poorly maintained infrastructure and decades-old pipelines that are not fit for purpose. This stands in stark contrast to other countries where maintenance is taken far more seriously.

Even accepting Shell’s argument, our clients contend that Shell should have taken reasonable precautions to prevent foreseeable theft. In other countries, pipelines are buried, fitted with detection systems and monitored closely to detect intrusion attempts or spills. Our clients contend that Shell has failed to implement these basic measures in the Niger Delta.

What did the recent court ruling say, and what do you hope to achieve?

The High Court sided with our position, ruling that if Shell failed to take reasonable steps to prevent foreseeable harm, it can be liable for pollution caused by bunkering. Significantly, the court also rejected Shell’s claims that it couldn’t be held liable for spills older than five years, ruling that if a spill has still not been cleaned up – even if it happened decades ago – the company can still be held accountable.

This ruling has far-reaching implications. It’s particularly significant for the Ogale case where pollution dates back to the 1980s, and it opens the door for many other Niger Delta communities affected by legacy spills dating to the 1970s or earlier. Beyond Nigeria, the ruling sends a warning to multinational companies attempting to divest from polluting operations without accepting responsibility for the damage left behind.

Our clients seek three main outcomes from the 2027 trial: proper cleanup and environmental remediation of their polluted lands, emergency provisions such as access to clean drinking water and compensation for lost livelihoods and damaged property.

A pressing concern is Shell’s recent divestment from its onshore operations in Nigeria. The company has sold its assets to a consortium and is attempting to walk away from decades of pollution. While the communities we represent have at least secured court proceedings, many others have been left behind with no cleanup and no accountability.

We’re determined to prevent Shell and other multinational companies from abandoning polluted sites without taking responsibility. Success in holding Shell accountable, including for decades-old spills, could establish crucial legal precedents. Legally, it would confirm that companies remain responsible for long-term environmental damage. Morally, it’s about basic fairness: after decades of extracting resources and making huge profits, companies shouldn’t be allowed to leave behind a toxic legacy.

While our case won’t create internationally binding precedents, it could significantly influence how similar claims are litigated in other countries, particularly in common law jurisdictions.

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By Jomo Kwame Sundaram and Nadia Malyanah Azman
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Jul 29 2025 – US President Trump has successfully used tariff threats to achieve economic, political and even personal goals. These threats, reminiscent of colonialism, have secured submission and concessions.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

<strongIndonesian lessons
After hearing the 2024 US elections, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto respectfully stood up in his Jakarta office to call to congratulate the winner.

Trump bragged about his tariff offer to Indonesia in mid-July 2025, flattering its president profusely. After hesitating initially, former General Prabowo had agreed to join BRICS, despite Trump’s clear disapproval.

“I spoke to their really great president, very popular, very strong, smart. And we made the deal. We will pay no tariffs…they are giving us access to Indonesia … the other part is they are going to pay 19% and we are going to pay nothing.”

An Indian commentator noted, “Those words say it all. This deal is clearly one-sided, and it should bother the whole world.” Americans, not Indonesians, will pay tariffs on imports from Indonesia.

The US is Indonesia’s second-largest export market, importing apparel, palm oil, footwear, and cosmetics. Initially, Trump had threatened a 32% tariff on such imports.

This has been reduced to 19%, still almost four times more than last year! In 2024, Indonesian exports to the US were taxed at 5% on average. The Indonesian president has not complained but instead seemed relieved.

Nadia Malyanah Azman

Indonesia will lose not only exports, but also growth and jobs. As Trump loves to brag, he added insult to injury as he could not resist reiterating: “They will pay 19%, and we will pay nothing.”

Guaranteed sales
Indonesia will also buy $15 billion of US oil and gas, $4.5 billion of farm produce, and 50 Boeing jets. But the 2019 Lion Air plane tragedy, which the US plane manufacturer quickly blamed on Indonesian pilots, is still alive in the national memory.

Boeing’s reputation worldwide has not recovered from the investigation into the Nairobi air crash involving the same plane model, which led to its grounding.

Indonesia is among the US’s top 25 trade partners. The deal secures American access to the Indonesian market, allowing US goods to be sold tariff-free.

Last year, Indonesia shipped $28 billion worth of goods to the US. Higher tariffs are now expected to cut Indonesian exports by a quarter, GDP growth by 0.3%, and many jobs!

Other Southeast Asian lessons?
The Philippines’ Marcos II government is the most pro-US in Southeast (SE) Asia, hosting 11 American military bases.

Yet it was the only one without a US tariff offer before Secretary of State Rubio’s SE Asian visit earlier this month. The Philippines has since been offered a new US trade deal with the same 19% tariff rate despite its loyalty to Washington.

Loyal long-term support for the US, 11 military bases and serving as an additional ‘unsinkable aircraft carrier’ just south of Taiwan did not secure a better trade deal for the other archipelagic nation in SE Asia.

Trump wants trade deals even more favourable to the US than existing ones. With deadlines passing, the US is expected to announce more trade deals.

The tariff threats have been more effective for Trump, thanks to decades of trade liberalisation forced on the Global South, undermining earlier import-substituting industrialisation and food security measures.

Washington has already revised earlier demands, sometimes not just once, but typically to the chagrin of US trade partners. Vietnam’s Communist Party leader was initially thought to have negotiated a better deal than other SE Asian governments.

Lessons for others?
Will the US offer to Indonesia become a template for others? Or even for countries of comparable significance in the world economy? Nobody knows Trump’s strategy, let alone how it may still change.

Perhaps it begins with the threat of high tariffs, shock and awe. Then, a less painful deal is offered, dressed up as a concession.

This may be worse than the status quo ante, but it still seems preferable to the original threat. Nations will also be required to buy US goods that may not be needed or offer the best value for money.

Thus, US offers to SE Asia are being studied worldwide for lessons on better negotiating with Washington. Meanwhile, the US refuses to negotiate collectively except with the European Union.

All over the world, policymakers will continue to debate Trump’s tariff war strategy after Monday’s agreement in Scotland, which included a 15% baseline tariff on most EU exports to the US.

The US-EU deal makes clear the West, including Europe, has never really been committed to a rules-based international order, including multilateral trade liberalisation.

As American buyers pay the tariffs, imported goods become more expensive. US trading partners will lose exports, related growth and jobs. This will mean less expansion, employment and exports worldwide, accelerating stagnation.

Meanwhile, most SE Asian governments believe they have little choice but to continue negotiating with the US, which is driving them to others willing to engage them on more favourable, if not fairer, terms.

IPS UN Bureau

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By Stephanie Hodge
NEW YORK, Jul 29 2025 – In Geneva, nearly 600 UN staff based at the UN Office there held an Extraordinary Staff Union meeting on July 24, 2025, passing a unanimous motion of no confidence in the UN80 reform initiative, the Secretary General António Guterres, and Under Secretary General Guy Ryder—with no abstentions and no dissenting voices (source).

Meanwhile, Gaza is being flattened. The war has become the deadliest ever for UN personnel: over 200 UNRWA staff have been killed since October 2023 (UNRWA). At Least 116 Staff Members of United Nations Palestine Refugee Agency Killed in 2024, Bringing Total to 263 Staff Fatalities Since War in Gaza – UN Staff Union Committee – Question of Palestine

Aid starvation is mounting. UN agencies warn Gaza faces mass starvation, with children visibly wasting away and some aid workers joining food lines themselves (Amnesty International). Reports describe scenes of “walking corpses” due to critical shortages of food, water, and medicine (The Times).

As mass starvation spreads across Gaza, our colleagues and those we serve are wasting away – Amnesty International ‘Walking corpses’ haunt Gaza streets: UN says children dying of starvation, India urges emergency relief – The Economic Times

Despite the conditions, famine has not been officially declared—due to access constraints and the politicization of humanitarian data (Associated Press). Experts say Gaza is at risk of famine but haven’t declared one. Here’s why. | AP News

Meanwhile, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) confirms collapse of health and water services, especially in Rafah (OCHA Flash Update #165). Hostilities in the Gaza Strip and Israel | Flash Update #165 | United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs – Occupied Palestinian Territory

Enter UN80, a sweeping internal reform launched in mid 2025 to mark the UN’s 80th anniversary. Promoted under the veneer of “modernization” and “efficiency,” the plan cuts junior-level positions, consolidates decision-making in the Secretary-General’s office, and accelerates centralization—without transparent evaluation of previous reform cycles or external oversight (IPI Commentary). UN80 and the Reckoning Ahead: Can Structural Reform Deliver Real Change? – IPI Global Observatory

The UN’s own Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) warned in its 2023 report that widespread use of affiliate workers and non-staff consultants had undermined accountability. In earlier reports, the JIU criticized prior reforms for concentrating authority without improving transparency or including field voices. JIU/REP/2023/8

This is not a system in crisis—it’s a system functioning as designed: to protect reputation, manage political risk, and suppress the dissent of its own workforce. It prioritizes control over service, and branding over substance.

Meanwhile, global crises—from Ukraine to Sudan—are exposing the UN’s deepening credibility crisis. A 2022 High-Level Committee on Management (HLCM) report recognized growing internal distrust and institutional fatigue (UN CEB HLCM Report). Microsoft Word – 2211281E.docx

So, what now?

We need truth-tellers inside the system. Staff who document abuses. Analysts who refuse to whitewash data. Leaders who resist sanitizing the truth to please donors. These are the ones who can restore integrity to institutions that have lost their compass.

There is a moral precedent in the figure of Job. He did not suffer because he failed, but because he refused to lie. In the face of collapse, he remained grounded in truth. That refusal—not obedience—is what sustained him.

Not every fight is winnable. But silence?

That’s not an option.

As Martin Luther King Jr. said: “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

If the UN is to survive the 21st century, it must retake its soul. That begins with truth. Not PR. Not spin. Truth that costs something.

Stephanie Hodge is an international evaluator and former UN advisor who has worked across 140 countries. She is a former staffer of UNDP 1994-1996 & 1999- 2004 and UNICEF 2008-2014. She writes on governance, multilateral reform, and climate equity.

IPS UN Bureau

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By Naomi Myint Breuer
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 29 2025 – In Myanmar, airstrikes occur almost daily. The phenomenon has become common since civil war broke out following the 2021 military coup that replaced the democratically elected National League for Democracy (NLD) with the Tatmadaw, Myanmar’s military. Several human rights organizations report that these airstrikes are disproportionately targeting civilians and harming lives.

The Tatmadaw uses airstrikes to fight armed resistance groups, such as the People’s Defense Forces (PDF), and regain control of areas from these groups, who control about 42 percent of the country’s territory, according to a BBC investigation published December 19, 2024.

After the March 28 earthquake, the Myanmar military and other groups involved declared a ceasefire, but attacks continued. Myanmar Witness reported 80 airstrikes occurred between March 28 and April 24, including in emergency-declared areas.

The Karen Human Rights Group reports that airstrikes are part of a broader attack on civilians in the country. Human rights groups and the UN found that the military disproportionately targets civilians with not only bombs but also mass executions of detained people and large-scale burning of homes.

Spokesman for the UN Secretary-General Stéphane Dujarric said these strikes are part of a pattern of attacks across the country.

“There are frequent reports of people being killed, injured or displaced by violence—as well as increasing attacks on civilian infrastructure,” he said at a July 16 press briefing.

Recent airstrikes, such as a July 11 strike on a monastery in Lin Ta Lu village, which killed 23 and injured 30, have redrawn attention to the country’s ongoing conflict. The Lin Ta Lu attack came weeks after the military began an offensive to reclaim territories controlled by resistance groups.

Public and religious sites have become targets. Myanmar Witness, a Centre for Information Resilience project investigating human rights in Myanmar, reported a trend of military operations hitting large civilian gatherings, with 109 cases of airstrikes damaging religious sites in 2024. A wedding held in a monastery in Magway Region was bombed on Feb. 25 after an invitation was posted on social media. They estimate that 11 people were killed.

“These trends highlight that religious and cultural sites are becoming increasingly at risk of complete destruction as a result of internal conflict in the country,” Myanmar Witness reported.

Dozens of schools have also been attacked, resulting in deaths and injuries of children. Many children have stopped attending school due to safety concerns. An aerial attack on a school in Oe Htein Kwin village in the Sagaing region on May 12 killed around 20 students and wounded dozens.

A Karen Education and Culture Department (KECD) school principal told the Karen Human Rights Group that all four of the school’s buildings were destroyed by bombs in a March 23, 2024 airstrike in a village in Doo Tha Htoo District. The cost of rebuilding is expensive, and they did not know whether anyone would be able to help rebuild it.

“I am sad to see the destruction of my school and worry that children will not be able to go to school…” the principal said. “I do not know how to describe my feelings of extreme fear. My whole heart breaks when I see the destroyed school. I cannot do anything now.”

Yadanar Maung, spokesperson for Justice For Myanmar, an activist group, accused international governments and corporations that fund, arm and train the Tatmadaw of empowering the military’s violent actions.

“The Myanmar military’s escalating violence against civilians, including through the intensification of airstrikes that target children, is not happening in a vacuum,” Maung told IPS.

Maung praised Airbus’ recent divestment from AviChina Industry & Technology Company Limited due to its links to the violence in Myanmar.

“Others must follow,” Maung said. “Governments must also act with stronger targeted sanctions on the military, its businesses, cronies and partners.”

The UN’s Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar is investigating whether the Tatmadaw’s actions can be classified as crimes against humanity. The Mechanism called for information on aerial attacks for its investigation. They are prioritizing investigating attacks on children.

“Airstrikes that are indiscriminate or which target civilians may be war crimes or crimes against humanity,” the Mechanism wrote.

The airstrikes make it difficult for the UN to deliver humanitarian assistance to people in need. Currently, one in three people in Myanmar face acute hunger, according to Dujarric.

“We urgently, and once again, call on all parties to respect human rights and international humanitarian law,” he said.

Myanmar receives far less attention than other regions undergoing conflict and distress. Without the same level of attention, the war cannot end and the humanitarian situation will not be alleviated. Myanmar Witness said that it is important to continue reporting on the situation in Myanmar so as to keep other nations updated. They said the situation is complex and can be difficult for foreigners to understand.

“The international community isn’t as aware of this continuing internal conflict due to other important conflicts taking media attention, particularly in Western news outlets,” Myanmar Witness wrote to IPS. “It is important to continuously push to get news about Myanmar out to the international community as much as we can.”

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