Access to evidence at stake in new trial against TotalEnergies' mega-oil project in Uganda

Nearly two years after the lawsuit filed by five NGOs and 26 individuals, the second trial against TotalEnergies' mega-oil project in Uganda is scheduled to begin in public hearings on Thursday, May 15, at the Paris Judicial Court. This time, the plaintiffs, including Friends of the Earth, Survie, and the Ugandan association Africa Institute for Energy Governance (Afiego), aim to obtain compensation.

At the end of the first trial in February 2023, they failed to get the courts to preemptively rule on the vigilance plan drawn up by TotalEnergies to protect against possible human rights and environmental violations, as required by the law on the duty of vigilance of multinationals and their subsidiaries. These violations have since materialized, and the plaintiffs argue that the major should be ordered to fairly compensate the victims for the damages suffered, namely the loss of their land and livelihoods.

Two years ago, the judges had deemed the first complaint filed under the new law "inadmissible," justifying their decision in particular by the fact that the associations' demands had changed substantially since the start of the procedure in 2019. This was a setback for those campaigning against this project to open new oil fields, which they deemed "climaticide" and harmful to local populations and biodiversity.

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