Non-state actors and human rights violations in Nigeria : an appraisal of the activities of transnational oil corporations in the Niger delta region

Abstract

Non-state actors are categorized as entities that are participating or acting in the sphere of international relations. They do not hold the characteristics of a legal sovereign but do have some measures of control over a country's people and territories. Transnational Corporations (TNCs) are examples of non states actors with profit motives that operate in different sovereign states and continents in the world and deriving their powers most times from the laws of these states. Economists, lawyers and social scientists alike have for a number of years agreed that foreign investments like TNCs have the potential to act as a catalyst for the enjoyment or violation of human rights, particularly in developing countries. This is even more so considering that corporate investors are often not explicitly obliged under investment agreements to observe human rights even though they exert considerable power over individuals, communities and indigenous populations. Such a assertions have strengthened the normative link between human rights law violations and the activities of transnational corporations like the oil companies. It is on this premise that this paper discusses how the activities of transnational oil corporations in the Niger Delta Region have led to violations of human rights and to examine how the federal government of Nigeria through legislation have empowered these transnational oil companies to engage in activities that lead directly to such flagrant human rights violations.