Master's Thesis from the year 2014 in the subject Law - Miscellaneous, grade: 1C, University of Stirling (School of Arts and Humanities - Division of Law and Philosophy), course: LLM International Energy Law and Policy, language: English, abstract: Decades of irresponsible oil exploitation in the Niger Delta have caused a water and air pollution which does not have many comparisons anywhere else. In an already fragile country as Nigeria, characterised by weak democratic institutions and poor economic governance, this situation has led to increasing discontent and violence towards both the government and the oil multinationals. These two actors co-operate for the maximisation of oil profits and revenues while, at the same time, excluding local host communities from the participation in the oil development projects, preventing them to achieve a sustainable development, violating their Human Rights, and compromising their livelihoods. This paper analyses the legal framework of Nigeria in the oil sector and the peculiarities of the country in order to provide a critical overview of the issues, demonstrating that the amendment of the domestic Acts dealing with the topic, as well as the remediation to the damages caused by the oil multinationals, are no longer deferrable. The final aim is to suggest a pattern to sustainable oil development which, by means of applying the concepts of Corporate Social Responsibility, would help to quell the conflict, to improve the standards of life of local people, and to make Nigeria emerge as a socio-environmentally responsible African resource-rich country.

Decades of irresponsible oil exploitation in the Niger Delta have caused a water and air pollution which does not have many comparisons anywhere else. In an already fragile country as Nigeria, characterised by weak democratic institutions and poor economic governance, this situation has led to increasing discontent and violence towards both the government and the oil multinationals. These two actors co-operate for the maximisation of oil profits and revenues while, at the same time, excluding local host communities from the participation in the oil development projects, preventing them from achieving a sustainable development, violating their human rights, and compromising their livelihoods. This book analyses the legal framework of Nigeria in the oil sector and the peculiarities of the country in order to provide a critical overview of the issues, demonstrating that the amendment of the domestic Acts dealing with the topic, as well as the remediation to the damages caused by oil multinationals, are no longer deferrable. The final aim is to suggest a pattern to sustainable oil development which, by means of applying the concepts of Corporate Social Responsibility, would help to quell the conflict, to improve the local people’s standards of life, and to make Nigeria emerge as a socio-environmentally responsible African resource-rich country.

Attempts to Import Weapons

What kind of decision-making should multinationals engage in to create a sustainable company? There is substantial debate over why CEOs, senior management and Boards of Directors make the wrong decisions by not asking the right questions, with the result that not only is the company itself damaged, but all of the stakeholders find themselves at a detriment. Focusing on innovation, technology transfer and the use of intangible assets, Energy Law and the Sustainable Company features case studies from the oil and gas sector, to illustrate how to develop a sustainable business. Considering corporate social responsibility from the perspective of international and national law, the book demonstrates how companies can be both profitable and ethical using the influences of psychology to encourage senior decision makers to make the right decisions. It was revealed that reputation was the main principle influencing decision-making. The book also discusses how companies have reported on their sustainability strategy and considers how technology transfer and intangible assets may play a part in addressing global sustainability. This book should be invaluable reading to students and scholars of Sustainable Business, Business Law, Corporate Social Responsibility, Environmental and Energy Law as well as Environmental and Energy Management.

With this book, Charlotte Walker-Said and John D. Kelly have assembled an essential toolkit to better understand how the notoriously ambiguous concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) functions in practice within different disciplines and settings. Bringing together cutting-edge scholarship from leading figures in human rights programs around the United States, they vigorously engage some of the major political questions of our age: what is CSR, and how might it render positive political change in the real world? The book examines the diverse approaches to CSR, with a particular focus on how those approaches are siloed within discrete disciplines such as business, law, the social sciences, and human rights. Bridging these disciplines and addressing and critiquing all the conceptual domains of CSR, the book also explores how CSR silos develop as a function of the competition between different interests. Ultimately, the contributors show that CSR actions across all arenas of power are interdependent, continually in dialogue, and mutually constituted. Organizing a diverse range of viewpoints, this book offers a much-needed synthesis of a crucial element of today’s globalized world and asks how businesses can, through their actions, make it better for everyone.

In a time when multinational corporations have become truly globalised, demands for global standards on their behaviour are increasingly difficult to dismiss. Work conditions in sweatshops, widespread destruction of the environment, and pharmaceutical trials in third world countries are only the tip of the iceberg. This timely collection of essays addresses the interface between the calls for corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the demands for an extension of international human rights standards. Scholars from a vast variety of backgrounds provide expert yet accessible accounts of questions of law, politics, economics and international relations and how they relate to one another, while also encouraging non-legal perspectives on how businesses operate within and around human rights. The result is an essential incursion for a wide range of scholars, practitioners and students in law, development, business studies and international studies, in this emerging area of human rights.

This book examines the contemporary and contentious question of the critical connections between business and human rights, and the implementation of socially responsible norms in developing countries, with particular reference to Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa. Business enterprises and transnational corporate actors operate in a complex global environment, especially when operating in high risks sectors such as oil and gas, mining, construction, banking, and health care amongst others. Understanding human rights responsibilities, impacts, and socially responsible behaviour for companies is therefore an essential component of corporate risk management in our current world. The release of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, an instrument consisting of 31 principles on this issue, has further underscored the emergence of a rapidly developing set of international law norms on human rights responsibilities of businesses and transnational corporations. It has also shaped the discourse on corporate accountability for human rights. In addition to minimizing litigation, financial and reputational risks, understanding and demonstrating corporate respect for human rights is vital to building a culture of trust and integrity amongst local communities, investors, and shareholders. While Africa has been at the receiving end of deleterious activities of corporate actors, it has failed to address corporate impunity and human rights violations by non-state actors. Questions abound revolving around the underpinnings of a corporate responsibility to respect human rights, that is, how non-western and particularly African conceptions of respect may help develop a beyond do no net harm approach to respect; policy discourses on human rights due diligence, human rights impact assessment; mandating corporate respect for human rights in both domestic and international law. This book examines, clarifies, and unpacks the guiding principles of a rights-based approach to development and social inclusion. It offers an excellent exposition of regulatory capacity, institutional efficacy, and democratic legitimacy of governance institutions that shape development including a comprehensive analysis of how states are shaping business and human rights discourses locally to develop a critical understanding of identified issues by exploring the latest theories through comparative lenses.