The Appellate Division of the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) will today hear an appeal filed by four civil society organizations seeking to reverse a judgment made by the First Instance Division of the EACJ that the case had been filed out of time.
The case was brought following continued environmental and human rights abuses or risks caused by the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project, and the project’s failure to uphold key regional and international laws as well as agreements.
Genesis
In November 2020, the four CSOs including Africa Institute for Energy Governance (AFIEGO) from Uganda, Center for Food and Adequate Living Rights (CEFROHT) from Uganda, Natural Justice (NJ) from Kenya and Centre for Strategic Litigation (CSL) from Tanzania, filed a case seeking to stop non-compliance of the EACOP project to key regional and international laws as well as agreements.
The case was filed on behalf of the millions of East Africans whose human and environmental rights have either been abused or are at stake due to the EACOP project, which alongside the Tilenga oil project, has led to the forced displacement of over 120,000 people and is affecting environmental resources that East Africans rely on for their livelihoods, health and wellbeing.
The case was dismissed by the First Instance Division of the EACJ in November 2023. The judges averred that the case was filed out of time.
A month later, in December 2023, the CSOs filed their appeal on grounds that the judges at the First Instance Division erred in their ruling.
The appeal was first heard at the EACJ in Arusha, Tanzania, in November 2024 during which the Appellate Division of the EACJ rejected a request by the Tanzanian government to dismiss the appeal.
Instead, the court ordered the four CSOs to file a supplementary record of proceedings from the First Instance Division by November 29, 2024, to enable the judges to hear the case.
Dickens Kamugisha, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of AFIEGO, said they were looking forward to the case being heard.
He said the Appellate Division has the opportunity to correct the mistakes of the First Instance Division by ordering that our case is heard on its merits.
“We remain hopeful that the court will dispense justice,” Kamugisha said.
Elizabeth Kariuki, the East Africa Hub Director at Natural Justice, said they were resolute in purstheir uit of justice.
“The severity of the issues surrounding the pipeline demands an immediate and comprehensive examination and we
anticipate nothing less than a commitment to justice for the affected communities,” Kariuki said.
Deus Valentine Rweyemamu, the Chief Executive Officer of the Center for Strategic Litigation said the case provided “a real opportunity for the East African Court of Justice to help set the standards for foreign investors and the East African Community in ensuring that the community’s own standards on the environment as well as international commitments including the Paris Agreement are given life through this case.”
Many people, whose lives have been turned upside down by EACOP, remain anxious about the outcome of the legal process. They hoped that proceedings in Arusha would result into a better outcome for them.
“Despite the EACOP project developers saying that they have compensated over 90% of the people from whom they compulsorily acquired land, complaints over under-compensation persist. We are also worried about the environmental and climate change risks of the project. The human and environmental impacts of the project need to be addressed before any developments,” said Rachael Tugume, one of the affected people.
Another, Jelousy Mugisha, said iil-affected communities in Uganda were highly interested in the case, coming weeks after an elephant killed a grandmother, and critically injured her grandson.
