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.

These conclusions back up recent findings of ‘Shell’s Big Dirty Secret’, a report launched yesterday by the ShellGuilty coalition, Friends of the Earth, Oil Change International and PLATFORM. Shell’s operations in Nigeria are marred by persistent oil spills and gas flaring, where the gas that comes mixed with oil is simply burnt off.
One of the disturbing findings of Amnesty’s report is the unmonitored impact of waste water and effluent that Shell and other companies keep dumping in the fishing waters of the Niger Delta. Amnesty International cite a Shell publication that

SPDC’s environmental programme aims to progressively reduce emissions and effluents and discharges of waste materials that have a negative impact on the environment.” Petroleum, Pollution and Poverty in the Niger Delta

Internal Shell documents seen by the authors of ‘Shell’s Big Dirty Secret’ point to a more damaging picture of deception and negligence on the dumping of waste by-products.

Although Shell’s PR documents would say the environment was “central” to its activities, as international pressure grew against the company, the Shell Group lowered its environmental standards. One confidential Environmental Management Audit for Shell Expo, written in June 1994, noted that Shell’s “policy aim ‘To eliminate emissions, effluents and discharges that are known to have a negative effect on the environment’ has been abandoned.” Shell’s audit team said it could be “interpreted as a retrograde step”. Shell’s Big Dirty Secret

The human impact of Shell’s negligence is hard to imagine, but in Audrey Gaughran words:

People living in the Niger Delta have to drink, cook with and wash in polluted water. They eat fish contaminated with oil and other toxins – if they are lucky enough to be able to still find fish. The land they farm on is being destroyed. After oil spills the air they breathe smells of oil, gas and other pollutants. People complain of breathing problems and skin lesions – and yet neither the government nor the oil companies monitor the human impacts of oil pollution.

The high level of toxins in the environment can be traced to gas flaring, which also accounts for a substantial portion of Shell’s colossal contribution to climate change.  Shell refuses to take decisive action to halt this toxic and wasteful practise. At a time when the world needs urgent reductions in carbon emissions, Shell’s impact on the global climate is only set to increase. Under Jeroen Van der Veer, Shell expanded its investment into Canada’s tar sands, one of the most carbon intensive forms of fossil fuel, second only to Nigerian oil.

Shell aggressively increased its position in Canada’s oil sands industry through three major strategic moves. Throughout 2006 the Shell Group began buying out the minority shareholders in Shell Canada. The deal, concluded in March 2007, at a cost of $7.4 billion, put Shell in full control of the group’s most significant oil resource. Shell’s Big Dirty Secret

The upshot is that in years to come, Shell will be producing the most carbon. At precisely the time that the world needs urgent reductions in carbon emissions.

…based on reported total resources – Shell’s production of oil and gas will become the most carbon intense of its peers. It will rise by 85 per cent from today’s figure – an increase markedly greater than its competitors. This sharp rise is due to Shell’s total resources being dominated by unconventional oil [tar sands], as well as Shell’s ongoing reliance on Nigerian crude with its associated gas flaring. Shell’s Big Dirty Secret

When Shell CEO Jeroen Van der Veer retires on 1st July, he leaves behind a legacy on the environment so disastrous that Peter Voser will face enormous challenges in turning the company around. Whether Voser can put a stop to Shell’s trail of destruction in Nigeria and sabotage of the climate depends on our ability to take action and demand change, by sending Voser a strong message.

LONDON—Days after a judge confirmed Shell Oil will stand trial in New York on May 27th on charges it was complicit in the murders of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Nigerian activists, environmental and human rights groups announced that they have formed a global campaign to hold Shell accountable and demand that it stop gas flaring in Nigeria.

The campaign is being coordinated by Friends of the Earth, Oil Change International and PLATFORM/Remember Saro-Wiwa. In addition to the website www.ShellGuilty.com, the campaign will include grassroots advocacy, TV and online advertising, and calls for Shell to come clean about its corporate irresponsibility, human rights abuses and record of environmental devastation. The campaigners are demanding that Shell stop gas flaring.

“Ken Saro-Wiwa’s hanging revealed the true price of oil,” said Steve Kretzmann of Oil Change International. “Global movements for corporate accountability and environmental and social justice were inspired in part by the sacrifice of the Ogoni and the vision of Saro-Wiwa. Now, as Shell finally goes on trial for its crimes, we continue the struggle that Saro-Wiwa died for. For the climate and the communities of Nigeria, Shell must end gas flaring.”

“Gas flaring in Nigeria, where Shell is by far the largest oil company, poisons Niger Delta communities and is a significant, wasteful, source of global warming pollution,” said Elizabeth Bast of Friends of the Earth. “It’s time for Shell to end to its human rights abuses and climate crimes, including its gas flaring in Nigeria.”

“We remember Saro-Wiwa by keeping alive his nonviolent struggle,” said Ben Amunwa of PLATFORM/Remember Saro-Wiwa. “People around the world who care about these issues can demand justice from Shell—for all the victims of the oil industry—by joining our campaign at www.ShellGuilty.com.”

CONTACT:

U.K.: Ben Amunwa, Platform/Remember Saro-Wiwa, +44-207-357-0055, +44-7891-454-714, ben@remembersarowiwa.com

Netherlands: Anne van Schaik, Friends of the Earth,

+31-20-5507387,+31-6-21829589, anne.van.schaik@milieudefensie.nl

U.S.: Nick Berning, Friends of the Earth, +1-202-222-0748, nberning@foe.org

U.S.: Steve Kretzmann Oil Change International, +1-202-497-1033, steve@priceofoil.org

Notes:

* Ken Saro-Wiwa was a writer and leading activist demanding rights for Nigeria’s Ogoni people, including an end to Shell’s gas flaring in Ogoni regions. As a result of his activism, Saro-Wiwa was detained, imprisoned and tortured throughout the early 1990s. On November 10, 1995, Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni activists were executed by the Nigerian government for their campaigning. Substantial evidence indicates Shell collaborated with the Nigerian government in a campaign of brutal crackdowns that culminated in the execution of Saro-Wiwa and his colleagues. Shell will be forced to face this evidence in U.S. federal district court in New York City in a trial that begins May 26th. On April 23rd, Judge Kimba Wood rejected Shell’s last-ditch attempt to avoid trial, rejecting the company’s claim that the court did not have jurisdiction to consider the case.

* Gas flares are open-air fires that burn natural gas that is released when oil is extracted from the ground. A World Bank study concluded that flaring in the Rivers and Delta states in Nigeria releases 35 million tons of carbon dioxide and 12 million tons of methane each year—equivalent to the annual global warming pollution of 56 coal plants or 47 million cars. Gas flares are toxic and harmful to human health, which is why they are strictly regulated in countries such as the United States or the U.K. But because such flaring is cheap when environmental and human costs are not taken into consideration, Shell and other oil companies have burned gas flares continuously for decades in countries like Nigeria.

For more information about the campaign, Ken Saro-Wiwa, and gas flaring, visit www.ShellGuilty.com.

###

Friends of the Earth (www.foe.org) is the U.S. voice of the world’s largest grassroots environmental network, with member groups in 70 countries. Since 1969, Friends of the Earth has been at the forefront of high-profile efforts to create a more healthy, just world.

PLATFORM is a U.K.-based arts and campaign group focusing on the impact of the oil and gas industry on the rights of local communities. PLATFORM’s Remember Saro-Wiwa project aims to create a permanent Living Memorial to Ken Saro-Wiwa in London and to raise awareness about the ongoing environmental and social devastation of the Niger Delta by oil companies such as Shell.

Oil Change International (www.priceofoil.org) campaigns to expose the true costs of oil and facilitate the coming transition towards clean energy. We are dedicated to identifying and overcoming political barriers to that transition.

TOP

On May 27th 2009, oil multinational Shell could stand trial in a Federal District Court in New York for complicity in human rights abuses in Nigeria, including the summary execution of writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight of his Ogoni colleagues on November 10th 1995. The other charges against Shell include complicity in crimes against humanity, torture, arbitrary arrest and detainment. This landmark human rights case was filed by U.S based Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and EarthRights International (ERI). Last Friday, Chief Judge Kimba Wood of the Southern District of New York ordered that the trial would be postponed from 27th April to 26th May- the date was subsequently shifted forward by one day to 27th May.

ERI will join international artists and activists in London on 6th April, 6.30pm at Amnesty International UK to answer questions about the case, including why the Anglo-Dutch oil giant is standing trial in the U.S., as opposed to the UK. This event is hosted by PLATFORM’s remember saro-wiwa project in collaboration with AFROGROOV. Leading performance poet Zena Edwards, Nigerian rap artist Breis and percussionist Babacar Dieng will close the event.

Tonight, a global campaign will be launched by a coalition of NGOs including PLATFORM, Oil Change International, Friends of the Earth U.S. and Greenpeace UK. The campaign will coincide with the Wiwa vs Shell trial, and will hold Shell accountable for its ongoing gas flaring in Nigeria, which burns off an estimated $2.5 billion of gas annually and emits more carbon dioxide than the whole of sub-Saharan Africa combined.

The plaintiffs, including relatives of Saro-Wiwa and his colleagues, eagerly await Shell’s day in court, long after the injury and death of their loved ones. The trial could result in the first successful prosecution brought under the Alien Torts Statute, which give non-U.S. citizens the right to file suits in U.S. courts for international human rights violations. If found liable, Shell would be forced to pay damages that amount to hundreds of millions of dollars. The trial comes after a 12-year legal battle in which Shell has made repeated efforts to have the case thrown out of court in the U.S. Activists are hopeful that the trial will boost efforts by oil-affected communities to hold multinationals such as Shell accountable for environmental and human rights abuses.

Jen Nessel from the Center for Constitutional Rights said, ‘While Shell didn’t tighten the noose or pull the trigger, they played a critical supporting role for which they must be held accountable. U.S. law demands that human rights violators, including multinational corporations, be held liable for the atrocities they commit. May 26th could see Ken Saro Wiwa’s prophesy fulfilled that Shell would one day be on trial for what it did to the Ogoni people.’

‘Shell refuses to apologize for its role in the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa,’ said Ben Amunwa, of PLATFORM. ‘Worse still, Shell continue to pollute and flare gas with impunity in the Niger Delta, poisoning land and aggravating locals. The legitimate grievances of Saro-Wiwa and the Ogoni remain unaddressed, Shell’s ongoing environmental abuses fan the flames of conflict between oil companies and host communities. We, at remember saro-wiwa and its partners will call for more accountability in the Niger Delta, and will not forget the heavy price paid by Saro-Wiwa and his colleagues in their campaign for social justice.’

Michael Mansfield QC said, “I have supported your campaign all the way through because Ken Saro-Wiwa provided a shining example of resistance to corporate greed.”

The Press Conference on April 6th from 6.30pm is free.

Refreshments available.

RSVP to ben@remembersarowiwa.com

ENDS

Press enquiries:

Ben Amunwa (mobile) 07891 454 714 or 0207 357 0055
(email) ben@remembersarowiwa.com

Links:

www.earthrights.org

www.ccrjustice.org

www.wiwavshell.org

www.remembersarowiwa.com

Notes to editors:

* The following speakers will be at the press conference and are available for interview:

Katie Redford, Co-Founder and US Office Director, EarthRights International
Katie is a U.S. lawyer and served as counsel to plaintiffs in ERI’s landmark case Doe v. Unocal. She has published on various issues associated with human rights and corporate accountability, In 2006, Katie was selected as an Ashoka Global Fellow.

John Sauven, Director Greenpeace UK
See www.greenpeace.org.uk for statements and interviews with John Sauven from Greenpeace UK.

Michael Peel, writer and journalist, Financial Times
Michael Peel is a Financial Times journalist and former West Africa correspondent of the paper. His book A Swamp Full of Dollars: Paramilitaries and Pipelines at Nigeria’s Oil Frontier is due to be published in June 2009.

Ka Hsaw Wa, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Earth Rights International
Ka Hsaw Wa was one of the student leaders in the 1988 nation-wide student uprising for democracy and freedom. He collected evidence that served as a cornerstone in the ground-breaking lawsuit against Unocal. Ka Hsaw Wa has been awarded many prizes for his work in defense of human rights and the environment including the Goldman Environmental Prize, whose alumni include Ken Saro-Wiwa.

** Remember Saro-Wiwa is a coalition of organisations initiated and co-ordinated by PLATFORM, including: African Writers Abroad, Amnesty International UK, Christian Aid, Diversity Art Forum, English PEN, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace UK, Human Rights Watch, Index on Censorship, Mayor of London, Minorities of Europe, People & Planet, Anita & Gordon Roddick, South Bank Centre, SpinWatch and Stakeholder Democracy Network.

Financial supporters include: Arts Council England – London, The Ken Saro-Wiwa Foundation, Greenpeace UK, The Roddick Foundation, The Staples Trust, The Tedworth Trust, Wallace Global Fund, PLATFORM, and private individuals.