From the village of Rossport, on the west coast of Ireland, the movement resisting Shell’s attempts to build a gas pipeline through the community is calling for international solidarity. The struggle is entering its most critical stage to date – this summer, years after the project was due to get underway, Shell will finally attempt to bring the pipeline onshore. The operation will be supported by a huge deployment of force, both from the state and Shell’s security guards. They will face unprecedented opposition from local people who have not given their consent to the project, but stopping the pipeline and the threats it poses will not be easy, and support is needed.
Continue reading “Update on Rossport: Resistance to Shell’s Onshore Gas Pipeline”
Update on Rossport: Resistance to Shell’s Onshore Gas Pipeline
Shell in the spotlight over ‘human rights tragedy’
If the oil giant truly wants reconciliation in the Niger Delta, its incoming CEO must take concrete actionA new chief executive takes the helm at Shell today. Peter Voser will preside over a company which generated about $458bn revenue in 2008 and has operations in more than 100 countries, and at a time when the oil industry has never been under more scrutiny. A Shell man since 1982 and said to be a “safe pair of hands”, Voser will be remunerated to the tune of more than £3m. At Amnesty we hope a concerted effort to turn around Shell’s appalling reputation in the Niger Delta will be at the top of the agenda of the first board meeting he leads. Continue reading
Oil giant Shell has been covering up catastrophic oil spills in the Niger Delta by blaming them on sabotage by local people, according to a leading human rights group. Read more
Two Reports + Amnesty’s Campaign on Shell
Shell’s polluting practises blasted by 2 reports: Take Action HERE
As Peter Voser becomes Shell’s new CEO on 1st July, his inbox is already feeling the weight of a 143-page report from Amnesty International, and a critical report from the ShellGuilty coalition. The reports document Shell’s appalling impact on the human rights of oil-producing communities in Nigeria and Shell’s impact on the global climate, respectively. They will make unsettling reading for Shell, the largest operator in Nigeria’s oil fields, and campaigners are urging the company to address the social and environmental injustices occurring daily in the oil-rich Niger Delta.
Audrey Gaughran, author of the Amnesty International report said:
Despite its public claims to be a socially and environmentally responsible corporation, Shell continues to directly harm human rights through its failure to adequately prevent and mitigate pollution and environmental damage in the Niger Delta.
Continue reading “Two Reports + Amnesty’s Campaign on Shell”
SHELL CLIMATE CRIMES EXPOSED IN NEW REPORT
MEDIA ADVISORY
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Environment groups criticize Shell CEO van der Veer for undermining Climate Policies
Brussels, Amsterdam, London, Washington – 29th June 2009
Fresh evidence of oil giant Shell’s colossal contribution to global climate change and its continued investment in carbon intensive fossil fuels has been revealed today in a new report.[1] The report also reveals new internal documents that show that Shell knew of the environmental dangers of gas flaring in Nigeria more than fifteen years ago, but chose not to stop for purely financial reasons.
As Shell’s new Chief Executive, Peter Voser, takes charge this week, Friends of the Earth, Oil Change International and PLATFORM have released new research showing that despite attempts by outgoing CEO, Jeroen van der Veer, to portray a green image, the company has opted for a way forward that is in stark contradiction with the need to reduce CO2 emissions. Shell’s heavy investments in the most carbon-emitting energy sources, such as tar sands, liquefied natural gas and crude oil from Nigeria – which is associated with huge levels of gas flaring – make it the dirtiest of all major oil companies with regard to CO2 emissions.
Continue reading “SHELL CLIMATE CRIMES EXPOSED IN NEW REPORT”
Flawed logic of Nigeria’s response to insurgency
Is there any logic to the Nigerian Federal Government’s latest offer of amnesty to armed insurgents in the oil-rich Delta region? The offer follows one of the largest military offensives in the region, in which hundreds of innocent civilians have been killed and many thousands displaced. The government’s idea of winning the hearts and minds of the region is to bombard villages from the land, sea and air and then to prevent the displaced and homeless villagers from accessing to humanitarian aid. If anything, this strategy has hardened resolve amongst some elements of the insurgency.
Continue reading “Flawed logic of Nigeria’s response to insurgency”
Scraping the Barrel: Shell’s Article in Guardian Comment
Shell’s Malcolm Brinded wrote an article recently in the Guardian’s Comment section, that was savaged for its patronising tone and ‘all-round offensiveness’. Brinded would like us all to believe that Shell are the nice guys in Nigeria, who settled out of court as a ‘humanitarian gesture’ to the Ogoni people. The very notion is an insult to all Niger Deltans. The $15.5 million settlement sum is spare change to a company that, by last year’s figures, earns that much in four hours’ profit. If Shell want a lasting peace in the Niger Delta, why do they refuse to spend the $3 billion needed to stop gas flaring, an illegal practise that has been poisoning locals for four decades and stoking unrest in the Delta?
Continue reading “Scraping the Barrel: Shell’s Article in Guardian Comment”
Evidence Against Shell Continues in Independent on Sunday
An article by on 14th June in the Independent on Sunday highlighted the damning evidence of Shell’s involvement in human rights abuses. Andy Rowell writes:
Serious questions over Shell Oil’s alleged involvement in human rights abuses in Nigeria emerged last night after confidential internal documents and court statements revealed how the energy giant enlisted the help of the country’s brutal former military government to deal with protesters.
The response from Ogoni was noted on the Nigerian news site, NEXT:
Supporters of further legal actions against Shell were delighted with a story carried by a United Kingdom weekly, Independent on Sunday. The weekly, in a story entitled “Secret papers show how Shell targeted Nigeria oil protesters,” quoted copiously from internal Shell documents it claimed to have seen. The paper said the documents “revealed how the energy giant enlisted the help of the country’s brutal former military government to deal with protesters.”
Questions sent to Shell about this and other issues, including next week’s case against it by an Asaba court, were not responded to at press time.
Channel 4 News Expose Unpublished Evidence Of Shell’s Military Partnership
When a settlement was announced in the landmark Wiwa v Shell case, Shell stated that it ‘had no part in the violence that took place’ , and denied any responsibility for the military crack downs in Ogoniland that led to the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and his colleagues. This evening, the company’s denial of liability for human rights abuses came under fresh scrutiny.
The long-standing efforts of the plaintiff’s legal team has established a damning body of evidence against Shell, much of it from formerly confidential company memos. The evidence remains largely unpublished, but is accessible via public court records.
Research conducted by PLATFORM and Channel 4 into this documentary evidence exposes Shell’s intimate relationship with the military and shows how the alliance of the Nigerian regime and Shell used force to keep the Ogoni ‘under control’. For the first time, we bring you the documents that Shell does not want you knowing about.
PART ONE:
Continue reading “Channel 4 News Expose Unpublished Evidence Of Shell’s Military Partnership”
ROYAL DUTCH SHELL FORCED TO SETTLE HUMAN RIGHTS CASE OUT OF COURT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 8, 2009
Damning Evidence Reveals Shell’s Complicity In Crimes Against Humanity;
Landmark Case Resolved in Favor of Ogoni Plaintiffs After 14 Year Legal Battle
New York– After legal battles lasting nearly fourteen years, oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has been forced to pay a $15.5 million out-of-court settlement. Plaintiffs from the Ogoni region of the Niger Delta have successfully held Shell accountable for complicity in human rights atrocities committed against the Ogoni people in the 1990s, including the execution of writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa. The legal action is one of the few cases brought under the U.S. Alien Tort Statute that have been resolved in favor of the plaintiffs. The settlement includes establishment of a $5 million trust to benefit local communities in Ogoni.
Continue reading “ROYAL DUTCH SHELL FORCED TO SETTLE HUMAN RIGHTS CASE OUT OF COURT”
Trial Delay & Latest Update
For our interpretation of the recent delays in the much anticipated Wiwa v Shell trial, please read this excellent blog post by ShellGuilty campaigner Han Shan:
Today, there was another delay in the Wiwa v. Shell trial, causing teeth-gnashing by journalists who have dedicated resources to cover the trial, hand-wringing by Ogoni people and human rights & environmental justice supporters worldwide, and head-scratching by nearly everyone else following along.
Click here to read the full blog post on ShellGuilty.com.
