East African Court of Justice to Deliver Ruling in Case Against EACOP

By Natural Justice, AFIEGO, CEFROHT, CSL

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 24, 2025

Arusha, Tanzania – The Appellate Division of the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) will on Wednesday, November 26, 2025 deliver a ruling in a high-stakes appeal challenging the development of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP).

The appeal was filed by four East African civil society organisations (CSOs), namely, Africa Institute for Energy Governance (AFIEGO), Center for Food and Adequate Living Rights (CEFROHT), Natural Justice (NJ), and the Centre for Strategic Litigation (CSL).

The ruling could determine whether one of East Africa’s most contested fossil fuel projects, the EACOP, is subjected to full legal scrutiny for its far-reaching human rights, environmental, and climate impacts.

BACKGROUND TO THE CASE

In November 2020, the aforementioned four CSOs filed a case at the EACJ, arguing that the EACOP project spearheaded by French oil giant TotalEnergies and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) violates multiple provisions of the treaty of the East African Community (EAC), the Protocol for the Sustainable Management of the Lake Victoria Basin, the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, the African Convention on Conservation of Natural Resources, the post-2020 Convention on Biological Diversity, and the Paris Climate Accords.

The CSOs contended that the pipeline’s route through protected ecosystems and community lands had displaced families, threatened critical water sources, endangered biodiversity, and undermined the rights and livelihoods of Project Affected Persons (PAPs). The organisations also argued that the absence of a transboundary Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA), supervised by the EAC Secretary General, breaches the EAC Treaty, and Protocol for Sustainable Development of the Lake Victoria Basin.

The case seeks to halt the human rights violations, biodiversity loss and climate change risks associated with the development of the EACOP project in Uganda and Tanzania.

The case was heard by judges at the Frist Instance Division of the EACJ. In November 2023, the judges dismissed the case on the grounds that it was filed out of time.

In December 2023, the four CSOs appealed the decision. They argued that the First Instance Division erred in law and procedure when it ruled that the case was filed out of time.

The appeal was subsequently heard at the EACJ in Arusha and Kigali, Rwanda, in November 2024 and February 2025. During the hearing, the appellants’ lawyers urged the court to find that the case was filed within time as required by the EAC Treaty and return the EACOP case to the Court of First Instance so that the environmental, human rights, and climate issues raised in the case can be fully heard and adjudicated.

WHAT THE APPEAL SEEKS

The appellants argue that:

The case was filed in time and in compliance with relevant EAC laws.
The EACJ has jurisdiction to hear the main case.
The First Instance Division erred by awarding costs against public interest litigants who brought the case on behalf of affected persons.

The CSOs are asking the Appellate Division to:

Set aside of the ruling of the First Instance Division that dismissed the case;
Return the EACOP case to the First Instance Division for a full hearing on its merits; and ● Set aside the punitive costs issued against the CSOs.

CSOS HOPE FOR A TURNING POINT

Mr. Dickens Kamugisha, the CEO of AFIEGO says, “The ruling that we are expecting this Wednesday is a defining moment. The East African Court of Justice has the opportunity to reaffirm that East Africans deserve justice and that courts are willing to stand with people, ensuring that they enjoy their full human and environmental rights.”

Ms. Elizabeth Kariuki, the Nairobi Hub Director of Natural Justice, emphasises, “This case is fundamentally about justice; justice for communities whose lands, waters, and dignity have been treated as expendable. For years, affected communities have carried the heaviest burdens of EACOP, namely, displacement, dispossession, and deep uncertainty about their future. The ruling that is expected to be delivered on Wednesday is a test of whether our regional institutions will uphold the rule of law and protect people over profit. East Africans deserve development that is lawful, fair, and respectful of their rights, not imposed at their expense.”

Ms. Kiiza Nambatya, an EACOP project-affected person from Uganda, adds, “Ugandan courts have been very disappointing to community members fighting for fair compensation. We hope that the EACJ will be different. Courts should stand with the people, and not big companies that destroy livelihoods and the environment.”

Mr. Deusdedit Rweyemamu, CEO at the Center for Strategic Litigation says, “At a time when climate risks are escalating across East Africa, this appeal represents a critical test of whether our regional legal architecture can uphold the obligations states have assumed under the EAC Treaty and its protocols, the African Charter, and international climate instruments. Communities affected by EACOP have raised serious claims that deserve substantive judicial examination. Multinational corporations operating in the region must do so in a manner consistent with these obligations, not in defiance of them. A decision that enables this case to proceed would strengthen the precedent that climate justice is not aspirational, it is a legal right enforceable before our regional court.”

Ends

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