With Arctic drilling imminent, significant expansion into the tar sands and over 50 years of damage in Nigeria, the case for targeting the oil giant Shell has rarely been greater. A new campaign launched this month by Friends of the Earth Netherlands is challenging Shell to clean up its oil spills in Nigeria’s oil rich Niger Delta region. Watch two great videos from the campaign below.
1. Live With It! Shell’s new iPhone app:
18th May 2012, Toynbee Hall, 7.30pm
Toynbee Hall, 28 Commercial Street, Greater London E1 6LS
You are warmly invited to a public meeting in advance of Shell’s AGM, that will bring together a diverse coalition of individuals and organisations calling Shell to account for the social and environmental impacts of its activities around the world.
Millions are being affected by Shell’s past, present and future operations. The world’s largest oil company has been violating indigenous rights for 55 years in the Alberta tar sands, committing grave human rights abuses in Nigeria, pumping dangerous levels of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, destroying communities in Ireland, lobbying against effective climate action in Europe and is now set to exploit the Arctic – which could devastate the world’s most fragile ecosystem.
Come and hear stories from community members on the frontline in Alberta, Alaska, Ireland and Nigeria, share ideas and information, and meet activists, academics, lawyers and investors united in their resolve to curb the oil giant’s destructive activities.
Free drinks will be provided. Donations towards the cost of the event welcome! We look forward to seeing you there.
I wrote a guest blog for Greenpeace UK today about Shell’s recent statement regarding its financial relationships with militant groups. I’d really like to hear your thoughts on the issue.
A recent video published online shows a Shell executive admitting that the oil giant could easily be funding what he describes as “warlords” and militants in Nigeria. You can watch the video here, (see 57mins – 1hr). The admission comes soon after the announcement that 11,000 Nigerians are due to take Shell to court in London over two major oil spills in the town of Bodo in 2008 to 2009. Shell has refused to pay adequate compensation for the destruction caused to the environment and livelihoods of local residents.
The new video shows the Managing Director of Shell Nigeria, Mutiu Sunmonu, speaking in central London on 9 February 2012. During the question and answer session, Tom Burgis of the Financial Times asks Mr. Sunmonu about the company’s financial relationships with armed militant groups in the Delta. Mr. Sunmonu responds:
Our friends at Corner House and Jubilee Debt Campaign have monitored how the UK government has given aid money to corrupt private equity firms in Nigeria. Below is the press release. It’s long, but well worth reading if you want understand how Western aid policy can undermine development.
Campaigners slam Government’s development approach as DfID-backed private equity fund comes under criminal investigation in Nigeria Continue reading
From Milieu Defensie (Friends of the Earth Netherlands):
Amsterdam – Shell has released its 2011 Sustainability Report. The figures reveal that the number of leaks (208 worldwide) has risen for the first time since 2003: globally, Shell has leaked a total of 6.7 million litres of oil. That is the second highest peak this millennium. Nigeria remains the most seriously affected, where last year the number of leaks due to poor maintenance doubled, from 32 to 64. This means that the oil concern has sunk back to its 2002 level there.
Continue reading
From Leigh Day & Co:
Six months after Shell admitted liability following two massive oil spills in the Niger Delta, law firm Leigh Day & Co are serving formal legal proceedings tomorrow (Friday 23 March 2012) on the oil giant in the High Court in London for compensation on behalf of over 11,000 Nigerians after negotiations broke down last week.
From UPI.com:
Shell Petroleum Development Co. was ordered by a Nigerian court to pay more than $25 million to five communities in Imo state for a 1997 oil spill. The communities sued Shell for compensation for immediate direct losses to their means of livelihood caused by the oil spill, The Guardian in Oshodi, Nigeria, reported Tuesday.
The UN’s humanitarian news network, IRIN has reported on the ongoing health crisis caused by gas flaring in the Niger Delta. The burning off of gas that comes mixed with crude oil is harmful, illegal in Nigeria and has been found to violate human rights. Approximately $2.5 billion of gas is wasted each year, whilst less than half of Nigerians have access to electricity.
Multinational oil companies such as Shell, Chevron, Eni, Total, Addax-Sinopec and Exxon Mobil, and the state owned NNPC continue to flare gas 24 hours a day, seven days a week, causing environmental damage as well as health and human rights impacts for local residents. Shell has flared gas for over five decades and according to official statistics, is still among the worst offenders, along with Exxon-Mobil, Chevron and Eni. Continue reading
A global coalition of NGOs, human rights monitors, academics and analysts have joined Platform in sending a letter to the Board members of Royal Dutch Shell and Shell Nigeria which holds Shell to account for its role in recent human rights abuses in Nigeria. Below is a short extract from the letter:
Today the US Supreme Court hears Kiobel v Shell, a case that alleges Shell aided and abetted human rights violations and crimes against humanity committed by the Nigerian military against the Ogoni people from 1992 onwards. Twenty years later, Shell’s operations in the Niger Delta continue to be linked to human rights violations committed by government forces and other armed groups, as well as result in extensive environmental devastation. Continue reading
Tomorrow the Supreme Court of the United States hears Kiobel v Shell, a case that alleges Shell aided and abetted human rights violations and crimes against humanity committed by the Nigerian military against the Ogoni people from 1992 onwards. The case has significance for the global movement for corporate accountability. The outcome in Kiobel will determine whether corporations can be sued in the US by victims of human rights abuses overseas.
Below is a list of resources which provide essential background information about the case.