Behind the corporate gloss

Two recent court cases in vastly different corners of the globe prove the need to monitor Western multinationals in developing countries.

Nigeria: A Nigerian court on Friday ordered Royal Dutch Shell PLC to pay southern communities $1.5 billion (1.2 billion euros) in compensation for environmental pollution and degradation in the oil-rich Niger Delta.

Argentina: Ford Motor Company has been charged in an Argentine court with playing a direct part in the illegal detention, torture and “disappearances” of its own workers under the dictatorship that ruled the South American country from 1976 to 1983. The US automaker is accused in both a criminal and a civil lawsuit filed this week of carrying out “management terrorism” under the military regime in order to suppress worker militancy at its Argentine production plants.

Text and images ©2024 Antony Loewenstein. All rights reserved.

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