“Victory! French court orders disclosure of evidence in Total Uganda case”, 18 September 2025

Following the hearing held on May 15 in the “Total Uganda” case, the Paris Civil Court has issued a crucial ruling ordering Total to disclose documents deemed essential evidence by the plaintiffs

For the affected communities and the supporting organizations, this represents a significant step forward in the legal action initiated two years ago against Total, seeking justice for human rights violations linked to the Tilenga and EACOP mega oil projects in Uganda.

To recap, this legal action was launched in June 2023 under France’s Duty of Vigilance Law by 26 individuals directly affected by the Tilenga and EACOP projects, human rights defender Maxwell Atuhura, and five Ugandan and French organizations...

Due to the company’s refusal to share certain key documents needed to establish its liability, the plaintiffs were forced to take the matter to court to compel disclosure…

While Total had tried to hide behind its subsidiaries by claiming that the majority of the documents belonged to them, the court also stressed that the plaintiffs were justified in directing their demand to the parent company, as part of its duty of vigilance…

Total has a period of a month to transmit the missing documents, under penalty of a fine of 1 000 euros per day of delay. Fueled by these new documents, the exchange of written submissions will therefore resume, before a hearing on the merits of the case is scheduled, likely in 2026.