After years of delay, the French energy company Total Energies appeared in a Paris court in a lawsuit in which six non-governmental organizations accused it of “failing in its duty of vigilance” on two huge oil drilling and pipeline projects in Uganda and Tanzania.
Survie, along with Friends of the Earth and four Ugandan NGOs, accuses Total Energies of violating human rights and the environment as it presses forward with the enormous infrastructure investments.
The “Tilenga” 419-well drilling project in Uganda, which is partly located in a national park, and the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project in Tanzania are both designed to transport hydrocarbons to the Indian Ocean over a 1,400-kilometer stretch of Tanzanian land.
Once completed, EACOP will be the world’s longest oil pipeline.
The NGOs are calling on the company to comply with a 2017 French law passed that compels multinationals to respect “duty of care” regarding their activities.
The legislation obliges Total Energies to “prevent serious violations of human rights, health and safety of people and the environment” when dealing with foreign subcontractors and suppliers through a “vigilance plan” that must map risks and establish measures to prevent them.
Court case hindered by technicalities
Due to a procedural tussle that Total Energies eventually lost, the case had been delayed for three years.
Despite condemnation from the European Parliament, four United Nations special rapporteurs, and various political leaders and groups, the project’s active phase began in February, and oil production in Uganda is scheduled to begin in 2025.
The hearing in Paris on Wednesday, which was attended by various associations and politicians, including the MPs who advocated for the bill, was the first on the merits of the issue before the courts since the legislation was passed by the French parliament five years ago.
The NGOs’ lawyer, Louis Cofflard, told the court that he regretted that Total Energies had not used the past three years of proceedings to “commit itself and comply with its commitments,” adding that the oil and gas firm showed “some cynicism.”
Outlining the alleged shortcomings of Total Energies’ vigilance plan, he expressed his regret that it did not include “the environmental risks and climate impacts associated with the project”.
Land seizures
Survie’s lawyer, Céline Gagey, outlined the reasons for objection to the projects as well as the negative data at the heart of the dispute.
Some “118,000 partial expropriations [of land] are necessary” she said, but the people who need to be compensated – often small farmers – are “deprived of the right to work their land before receiving any compensation.”
The court heard that some 28,000 people are still waiting for compensation and Total Energies is not taking any measures to prevent thousands of farmers from being deprived of the right to use their land.
Total Energies: NGOs are ‘obstinate’
Total Energies’ lawyer, Antonin Lévy, said he could have “spent five hours denouncing the failings” and untruths of the NGOs, but preferred to focus on “the inadmissibility of their claim.”
He noted that the summons issued in 2019 was aimed at the 2018 vigilance plan – which has since evolved.
Plus, he argued that the Paris court cannot take extra-territorial action, maintaining that the project is led by Total energies Uganda, a subsidiary of the French group.
The NGOs want to put “Total Energies, Tilenga and EACOP, Tanzania, Uganda and their leaders on trial”, he said, denouncing the “obstinacy in trying to be the emblematic case, the one that will perhaps set a precedent, to the detriment of the populations concerned.”
The case will be deliberated by the court until 28 February 2023.
