Nigeria, Oct. 7 -- African civil society organisations (CSOs) have cited the decades-long environmental devastation in Nigeria's Niger Delta as part of the evidence underpinning their call for an international tribunal to hold transnational corporations accountable for human rights and environmental violations across Africa.

The demand was made Wednesday at a Pan-African Virtual Convergence convened by the Groundtruth Africa Network, where civil society representatives from Nigeria and other African countries argued that affected communities are often left without effective remedies because the corporations behind major projects operate through complex structures spanning multiple jurisdictions.

The participants specifically cited oil s...