On Emissaries and Control: Corporate accountability in the aftermath of the Shell litigation in the UK and the Netherlands

Please join the Essex Business and Human Rights Project, the Oxford Business and Human Rights Network, and the Utrecht Centre for Accountability and Liability Law for a roundtable discussing the implications of the recent litigation against Shell for holding corporations accountable for environmental and human rights harms.

In this rapid response event, panellists will discuss the business and human rights implications of two judgments rendered in February 2021 against Royal Dutch Shell (RDS) and its Nigerian subsidiary Shell Petroleum and Development Company (SPDC). Four Nigerian Farmers and Milieudefensie v. Shell was decided by the Court of Appeals in the Hague and it is the first appeals case in Europe that resulted in a victory on the merits for the victims, but also the first case to hold that a parent company was under a duty of care with regard to foreign claimants.

The panellists will also discuss the implications of the UK Supreme Court Judgment in the Okpabi v Shell decision which reaffirmed and strengthened the Lungowe v Vedanta precedent on the scope of parent company duty of care for environmental and human rights impacts of foreign subsidiaries. Both judgments represent major developments in the field of corporate accountability for human rights and environmental impacts.

Panellists

• Dr Ekaterina Aristova, Postdoctoral Fellow in Human Rights and Practice at the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, Oxford University.
• Gabrielle Holly, Senior Adviser on Human Rights and Business, The Danish Institute for Human Rights.
• Dr Lucas Roorda, Assistant Professor at Utrecht University and researcher at the Utrecht Centre for Accountability and Liability Law (Ucall).
• Dr Tara Van Ho, Lecturer and Co-Director of the Essex Business and Human Rights Project, School of Law and Human Rights Centre, University of Essex.
• Dr Anil Yilmaz, Senior Lecturer and Co-Director of the Essex Business and Human Rights Project, School of Law and Human Rights Centre, University of Essex.