The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a Presbyterian Church’s appeal in October that aimed to hold the Calgary-based Talisman Energy Inc. accountable for allegedly aiding and abetting genocide in Sudan.
The appeal was the most recent step in almost a decade of legal wrangling in U.S. federal courts. In a 2001 lawsuit, the Presbyterian Church of Sudan alleged the Canadian energy company, which had run oil concessions in southern Sudan since 1998, was complicit with the Sudanese government’s targeting of non-Muslim peoples living in the south, and argued these human rights abuses amounted to genocide.
The courts repeatedly dismissed the suit, finding the plaintiffs had insufficient evidence and could not prove the company had “purposefully” aided and abetted violations of international law.
In the past, the Presbyterian Church in Canada — which held stock in Talisman Energy — joined the ecumenical justice organization Kairos and other churches in lobbying the company to halt its indirect support of the decades-long war. The groups argued oil and conflict were often paired in the north-African nation.
The company sold its assets in Sudan and pulled out in 2002.
Talisman Energy is Canada’s largest independent producer of oil and gas. — With files from the Associated Press, Business and Human Rights Resource Centre and Kairos
