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Sierra Club Criticizes Shell's Irresponsibility in Nigeria Group Stages Protest Outside Company Headquarters Washington, D.C. -- Amid demonstrators chanting, "No Blood for Oil", outside Shell Oil's Washington, D.C. lobbying headquarters, members of the Sierra Club pledged today that the nation's oldest and largest grassroots environmental organization will continue its boycott of Shell Oil until the company's rhetoric matches its actions. "Since the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa, Shell has spent millions on public relations and advertising to respond to the public outcry for environmental justice in Ogoni," said Stephen Mills, Director of the Sierra Club's Human Rights and the Environment Campaign. "But they have yet to admit responsibility for their actions, to pay adequate compensation to villagers whose farms were destroyed, or to clean up their environmental mess in Ogoni. Our boycott campaign will continue until Shell's deeds match their words." "If anything, the situation in Nigeria has worsened," said Mills. "The Ogoni region is now a military zone and MOSOP has been forced underground." MOSOP stands for the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People, the environmental and human rights organization led by writer Ken Saro-Wiwa before he was hanged in November of 1995. "Teachers are arrested if they mention Ken Saro-Wiwa in the classroom, preachers are arrested if they mention Ken in church," said Mills. "We have new reports that local security forces in Nigeria's main oil-producing region has forced people, often at gunpoint, to sign statements inviting Shell to return to Ogoniland," said Mills. "The fact is, Shell cannot return to Ogoni until they negotiate with MOSOP, and that will be impossible as long as MOSOP members are forbidden to assemble." At its annual general meeting today in London Shell will be under pressure from church pension funds and Pirc, the U.K. investment advisory service which holds 12 percent of Shell's stock, to clarify its commitment to environmental protection and human rights. Among the key points in the Pirc shareholder resolution: make someone on the committee of managing directors personally responsible for seeing that Shell honors its commitments to the environment and human rights; establish an effective auditing process to guarantee that words and actions match; and publish a progress report to shareholders, specifically in relation to Shell's operations in Nigeria, by the end of 1997. Shell's Board of Directors advice to shareholders to reject Pirc's resolution has only given environmental and human rights organizations more reason to doubt the company's recently issued business principles that call for a respect for human rights. "Shell has made a great effort in recent weeks to praise its contributions to hospitals in Nigeria. What they won't tell you is that the Ogoni won't go near the hospitals because of their profound fear of the company," Mills added. "This is nothing more than an attempt to disguise the fact that Shell has yet to adequately address the Ogoni environmental demands that started this whole campaign." Shell first found oil in Nigeria's Ogoniland in 1958. Since that time the company has extracted some $35 billion in oil from the lands of the Ogoni people. While royalties from these sales fill the coffers of the Nigerian military dictatorship, the rich farmland and rivers of Ogoniland have been poisoned by oil spills and the venting of toxic gases. Meanwhile most Ogoni today still lack running water , electricity, adequate schools or health care. "Nineteen Ogoni men are now awaiting trial for the same murders for which Ken Saro-Wiwa was wrongly tried and hanged," said Mills, "some are suffering in detention from blindness, disease and torture. We are demanding that Shell use their considerable influence to see that the Ogoni 19 are released." Environmental and human rights advocates believe Ken Saro-Wiwa was killed because of the international campaign he led against the pollution in his homeland caused by Shell, one of the largest revenue producers for the military junta that rules Nigeria. The Nigerian military government, an international pariah, has refused to release the body of Saro-Wiwa and eight others it executed, to the families. The regime maintains a strong presence in Ogoniland, beating and jailing any Ogoni who dares speak Saro-Wiwa's name or attempts to organize others to protect the environment. The Nigeria Country Report on Human Rights, released in January by the U.S. Department of State, noted that "General Abacha's Government relied regularly on arbitrary detention and harassment to silence its many critics." That report is available on the internet. At the protest the group distributed specially designed postcards for citizens to sign and send to Shell and President Clinton. Up to Top HOME | Email Signup | About Us | Contact Us | Terms of Use | © 2008 Sierra Club |
