A human rights organization based in Rivers State, known as the Pilex Center for Civic Education Initiative, together with several African community groups, has filed an application to participate as amicus curiae in an important climate notice before the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights in Arusha, Tanzania.
The suit filed under Application No. 001/2025 relates to a request by the Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU) seeking clarification on the human rights obligations of African states in addressing the climate crisis.
The Groups from Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Tunisia, Senegal, and Egypt argue that African countries must be held accountable for the environmental and human rights impacts of climate change, including threats to life, health, and property.
According to the application, the candidates include the Amadiba community (South Africa), the Buliisa community (Uganda), the Gabès community (Tunisia), the Pilex Center (Nigeria), RAPEN (Senegal), the Wadi al-Qamar community (Egypt), and the Umgababa mussel carvers (South Africa).
They contend that their participation will provide the court with “lived experiences” of climate change and environmental degradation, offering perspectives often missing from state or institutional submissions.
The Applicants insist that they come from diverse geographies and face a range of environmental threats, from coastal erosion in Senegal and industrial pollution in Tunisia, to oil extraction in Nigeria and Uganda, and from floods in South Africa to the long-term contamination and pollutant emissions in Egypt.
However, they are united in their pursuit of climate justice and in their demand that African States fulfil their human rights obligations under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the “African Charter”).
“The plaintiffs are not distant observers, but rights holders whose daily lives have been shaped by the climate crisis and the failure of states to meet their obligations,” the presentation states.
Communities highlighted a range of environmental challenges across the continent, including oil pollution in Nigeria and Uganda, industrial emissions in Tunisia and Egypt, coastal erosion in Senegal, and the impact of flooding in South Africa.
In Nigeria, the Pilex Center noted its work with Niger Delta communities affected by decades of oil extraction, gas flaring, and pollution, which have severely affected agricultural land, water resources, and public health.
“As a public interest organization, Pilex Center serves several people and communities. Among them are the Ogoni people – an indigenous population of about one million whose non-violent campaign against Shell through the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) attracted global attention in the 1990s, during which more than 2,000 Ogoni are believed to have died, and environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa was executed.”
“Pilex also works with Rukpokwu and Ibaa, communities whose farmland, water sources, and public health have been devastated by gas spills and flaring, and with Rumuekpe, where conflict over oil infrastructure led to the infamous Rumuekpe energy crisis, widespread violence, displacement, and destruction.
“In cooperation with these communities, the Pilex Center has carried out extensive environmental and public health assessments, documenting the presence of polycyclic carcinogenic substances. aromatic hydrocarbons in drinking water and human blood at levels in the thousands times on the lines of the World Health Organization. The communities are mainly farmers and fishermen, and livelihoods and cultural practices, including traditional spiritual rituals associated with rivers and forests, have been destroyed.
“The PILEX Center also established that Shell and other oil companies continue to flare the gas, releasing more than 250 toxins into the air, while the government has failed to implement its climate change law or end practices that degrade the environment and violate the rights to life, health, and a clean environment”, highlighted the PILEX Center.
The motion also emphasized the plaintiff’s intention to help the court resolve key issues such as state and corporate liability, protection of vulnerable populations, climate adaptation, and compensation for losses and damages.
The groups argued that their collective experiences underscore the need for stronger enforcement of environmental protection and greater involvement of affected communities in decision-making processes.
They also called for a climate justice framework that prioritizes those most affected by environmental damage, warning that current governance failures continue to leave vulnerable populations without recourse.
If accepted, the applicants assert that their arguments will provide substantial community evidence to support the Court’s interpretation of the obligations under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
The court is expected to issue an advisory opinion that could shape standards for climate governance and human rights in Africa.
