How energy injustice fuels Middle East conflict and human rights abuses

Abstract

The abundance of Middle East oil reserves has shaped global politics for decades. United States foreign policy in particular is driven by the desire for energy security and efforts to safeguard this have inversely fuelled conflict and instability in the Middle East. Oil also plays a major role in European foreign policy, the importance of which has been intensified by the Russia Ukraine war which now threatens the continuity of Russian oil and gas supplies. Moreover, tension and inequalities within and between Middle Eastern oil-importing and oil-exporting countries have greatly contributed to human rights abuses in the region. Now is the time for the international human rights community to adopt an energy justice framework which acknowledges and considers compensation for harms committed by oil industry giants and the violent politics of oil.