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U.N. Report on Nigerian Human Rights Calls for Investigation of Shell Sierra Club Urges Members to Continue Boycott Until Company Accepts Responsibility for Actions Washington, DC -- A U.N. human rights report critical of the Nigerian government's failure to address the plight of the minority Ogoni people, has for the first time also called for an investigation into the activities of the multinational oil giant Shell. The report runs counter to oil company claims of a new socially responsible ethic. Shell officials will gather in London on Friday for the company's annual general meeting. "The Special Rapporteur's mandate only covers the conduct of U.N. member states, not private companies," said Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope. "It is remarkable then that the U.N. has seen fit to reference reports of an armed Shell security force which Nigerians claim has been employed against environmental protestors." "An independent agency should be established in consultation with MOSOP (the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People) and SPDC (Shell Petroleum Development Company) which would determine all aspects of environmental damage due to oil exploration and other operations. The findings and conclusions of such a study should be made public," said Soli Sorabjee, the Special Rapporteur on Nigeria to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. SPDC is Shell's Nigerian subsidiary. "Issues relating to environmental degradation in the River Delta region alleged to be caused by the operations of the Shell Petroleum Development Company have received insufficient attention," said Sorabjee in his report to the UN body which met in Geneva on April 15. Shell continues to deny allegations of environmental damage in the Ogoni region of the Nigerian delta. "Shell has become quite proud of their new found social conscience, so they issue reports each year at this time patting themselves on the back," said Pope. "This year we would like to see the company accept responsibility for their pollution of Ogoniland and for their collusion with the Nigerian military, by accepting the U.N. call for an independent environmental assessment." "After 38 years in the country, Shell is apparently now building their first oil waste treatment facility in Nigeria," said Stephen Mills, Sierra Club's Human Rights and the Environment Campaign Director. "Before, they simply dug a hole, poured in the waste and covered it with dirt. While this is a welcome change, it's a shame that it took the execution of a writer and an international campaign for Shell to begin to adhere to standards in Nigeria that they are required by law to abide by here." Copies of the UN Special Rapporteur's report can be found on the Internet. Background on Shell and Nigeria Since Nov. 10, 1995, the major change in Shell's operations in Nigeria have been rhetorical according to Steve Kretzmann of Project Underground. Kretzmann traveled to Nigeria last year to obtain water samples for testing. "Pipelines still crisscross communities and promised replacement is visibly behind schedule," Kretzmann said. "Spills still occur with a frequency that would be unheard of in Europe or the U.S. Levels of hydrocarbon pollution in the water and soil of the Delta are still hundreds of times higher than the standards in Europe. Outside of Ogoni, farmers still tend their fields as gas flares tower over them." Communities in the delta have long demanded an independent environmental assessment. Shell's answer to this has been the Nigeria Delta Environmental Survey (NDES). NDES is funded by Shell and has no community representation on its steering committee. "This is not what is meant by independent assessment," said Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope. The Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) continues to demand the demilitarization of the Ogoni region of Nigeria as a precondition to any formal talks with Shell. Sierra Club supports that demand and urges Shell to realize that it will be impossible to resolve the situation there as long as freedoms of speech, assembly, and peaceful protest are consistently violated in Ogoni territory. "We remain deeply disturbed that Shell continues to pump oil and participate in divisive community relations exercises from behind the guns of the Nigerian military," said Pope. "Shell has underestimated the resolve of American environmentalists on this issue, we will continue to call for a boycott of Shell until the company accepts responsibility for its actions." At Shell's Annual General Meeting in 1996, company officials announced that Shell would not return to Ogoni unless Ainvited." Numerous reports have since emerged indicating that members of the Rivers State Internal Security Task Force have been forcing -- often at gun point -- citizens, chiefs, and prisoners to sign statements "inviting" Shell to return. Observers maintain that the military is doing this at Shell's request. "Clearly, Shell needs MOSOP's blessing to return to Ogoni. MOSOP remains the most representative and democratic organization of Ogoni, despite being forced to go underground," says Kretzmann. Ledum Mitee, the Acting President of MOSOP articulates their position as, "we cannot negotiate with guns pointed at us." "The Clinton administration's reluctance to adopt Nigerian oil sanctions has allowed General Abacha to stay in power," said Pope. "Abacha will continue to persecute environmentalists and other democracy activists until the Clinton administration decides that foreign policy written by oil companies is ineffective." On Nov. 10, 1995, Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni minority-rights advocates were hanged by the Nigerian military following a trial which lacked any independence or impartiality. The Ogoni had been protesting Shell's environmental devastation of their land and water. Key witnesses for the prosecution subsequently recanted their testimony and have signed sworn statements indicating that they were bribed by the Nigerian military and Shell to testify against Saro-Wiwa. Another 20 Ogoni, arrested with Saro-Wiwa, languish in jail under gruesome conditions. The Ogoni region of Nigeria is now a closed military zone where Saro-Wiwa's supporters are routinely jailed and tortured. Up to Top HOME | Email Signup | About Us | Contact Us | Terms of Use | © 2008 Sierra Club |
