An Exxon Valdez sized oil spill has occurred on average every year for the past 50 years in the Niger Delta. Exxon is responsible for 6 spills in the same area of the Niger Delta since December 2009.
Join JINN in urging Secretary Clinton and the Obama administration to rethink the U.S. role in bringing peace to the Niger Delta.
Support diplomatic negotiations, not military assistance.
Sign Letter!
Posted by jinn on 26th August 2010
From our friends at Platform and their Remember Saro Wiwa program:
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Tags: Niger Delta, Shell, UN, UNEP
Posted in Niger Delta, Shell, UN, UNEP, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Posted by jinn on 26th August 2010
Read the reaction to UNEP’s report on JINN ally website remember saro-wiwa
By Ben Amunwa on August 24, 2010
Today Amnesty International joined the chorus of disapproval and outrage at UNEP’s decision to clear Shell of all responsibility for oil spills in Nigeria. UNEP has been widely criticised for recently using Shell data to announce that the company is only 10% responsible for the causes of oil spills.
“Relying on these figures would be a serious misjudgement, with potentially significant ramifications for those living in the Niger Delta,” said Audrey Gaughran, Director of Amnesty International’s Global Thematic Issues Program. “UNEP must be aware that the figures have been strongly challenged for years by environmental groups and communities. They are totally lacking in credibility.”
Amnesty went on to highlight how UNEP’s use of Shell data raises serious anomalies:
Between 1989 and 1994 Shell itself estimated that only 28 percent of oil spilt in the Niger Delta was caused by sabotage. In 2007 Shell’s estimate had risen to 70 per cent. The figure now given by Shell has increased to more than 90 per cent. Amnesty International has repeatedly asked Shell to produce evidence to support these figures. Shell has been unable to do so.
Friends of the Earth International, the worlds largest network of environmentalists, also condemned UNEP’s uncritical announcement of the disputed Shell data. Nnimmo Bassey, chair of Friends the Earth International and director of Environmental Rights Action in Nigeria said:
We monitor spills regularly and our observations often contradict information produced by oil companies and Nigerian regulatory agencies. If the UNEP team would ask community monitors it would avoid falling into the trap of spinning Shell’s figures. The UN assessment is being paid for by Shell so we are not surprised that it tells Shell’s version of the facts. But the reality is that several studies have placed the bulk of the blame for oil spills in the Niger Delta on the doorsteps of the oil companies; particularly Shell.
Link to article on .
Tags: Amnesty International, FoE, Niger Delta, Shell, UN, UNEP
Posted in Niger Delta, Shell, UN, UNEP | No Comments »
Posted by jinn on 26th August 2010
Read JINN ally Nnimmo Bassey’s powerful piece from the Guardian UK on the UNEP report financed by Shell:
Report blaming 90% of spills in Ogoniland on locals stealing crude from pipelines allows companies to shirk responsibility
Outrage at UN decision to exonerate Shell for oil pollution in Niger delta
Nnimmo Bassey
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 25 August 2010 15.13 BST
Oil leaks from the Shell flow station in Eriemu, Nigeria Oil leaks from a Shell flow station in Nigeria. The claim that pipelines have been sabotaged is particularly attractive to oil companies. Photograph: George Osodi/AP
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is preparing to issue a report announcing that 90% of the oil spills in Ogoniland, Nigeria, are caused by the locals stealing crude from pipelines – and that Shell’s aged pipelines and ill maintained installations account for a mere 10% of the spills. Why so little, we might ask?
The UNEP has now admitted this figure is based on data from the oil industry and the Nigerian government. It’s not surprising that this is in line with what Shell used to claim in the 1980s – that about 80% of the oil spills were caused by vandalism or sabotage. This claim that infrastructure has been sabotaged is particularly attractive to oil companies, because they are then exempted from paying compensation for any resulting spills. Why accept responsibility for polluting the locals’ creeks, swamps and farmlands and destroying their livelihoods when you can blame the very same people for the mess now coating their own backyards with a toxic gloss?
Yet crucial expertise which could have painted a very different picture was sidelined. Prof Richard Steiner, an international expert on oil spills, was contracted to write the manual on oil damage assessment and restoration by the UNEP in 2004. But when Shell hired the agency to carry out the present study, Steiner’s offer to provide scientific advice and guidance to the Ogoniland report was declined.
Steiner has already said that the findings now uncovered are incorrect, and has gone on to say: “Our earlier results suggest that much of the oil spilled there was due to poor practice by Shell, rather than bunkering and sabotage… it is entirely implausible that 90% of the oil spilled was due to bunkering [the act of criminal gangs stealing oil].” In short, his opinion is that this is not an independent, credible assessment.
The report does indeed rely heavily on figures produced by oil companies and Nigerian state statistics rather than on testimonies from those most affected – the communities in Ogoniland.
The National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency of Nigeria has reported a total of 3,203 oil spills in the Niger Delta region in the last four years alone.
That list lengthens every day. The records of the Nigerian Directorate of Petroleum Resources show that nearly 2.5m barrels of crude oil were spilt between 1976 and 1996. Most damning of all, 77% of this oil was not recovered and contaminated the local environment. This is an environmental catastrophe which has a long history – some notable past spills include the Escravos spill of 1978 in which 300,000 barrels of crude oil was spilled into the coastal waters and another, in the same year, caused by tank failure at Forcados Terminal in which 580,000 barrels were spewed into the environment.
It is in this polluted environment that the people of Ogoniland have had to live for decades with spill after spill. The UNEP must be, and be seen to be, an independent arbiter of what has really happened there. There should be no room for suspicion that the $10m (£6.5m) Shell paid the agency for this report will influence the outcome.
Nnimmo Bassey is chairman of Friends of the Earth International
Tags: Niger Delta, Shell, UN
Posted in Nigeria, Shell, action | No Comments »
Posted by jinn on 24th August 2010
See the Guardian UK article about the controversial new UNEP report investigating Shell in the Niger delta. The UNEP denies it has been influenced by Shell, which paid for its $10m, three-year study and the report claims the remaining spillage is caused by local sabotuers and bunkering:
• Oil giant blamed for 10% of 9m barrels leaked in 40 years
• Report claims rest of leaking oil caused by saboteurs
Oil pipelines in Okrika, near Port Harcourt. The UNEP denies it has been influenced by Shell, which paid for its $10m, three-year study. Photograph: Ed Kashi
A three-year investigation by the United Nations will almost entirely exonerate Royal Dutch Shell for 40 years of oil pollution in the Niger delta, causing outrage among communities who have long campaigned to force the multinational to clean up its spills and pay compensation.
The $10m (£6.5m) investigation by the UN environment programme (UNEP), paid for by Shell, will say that only 10% of oil pollution in Ogoniland has been caused by equipment failures and company negligence, and concludes that the rest has come from local people illegally stealing oil and sabotaging company pipelines.
The shock disclosure was made by Mike Cowing, the head of a UN team of 100 people who have been studying environmental damage in the region.
Cowing said that the 300 known oil spills in the Ogoniland region of the delta caused massive damage, but added that 90% of the spills had been caused by “bunkering” gangs trying to steal oil.
His comments, in a briefing in Geneva last week, have caused deep offence among the families of Ken Saro-Wiwa and the eight other Ogoni leaders who were hanged by the Nigerian government in 1995 after a peaceful uprising against Shell’s pollution.
With 606 oil fields, the Niger delta supplies 40% of the crude oil imported by the US. Life expectancy in its rural communities, half of which have no access to clean water, has fallen to little more than 40 over the past two generations.
Communities accept that bunkering has become rife in some areas of Ogoniland, but say this is a recent development and most of the historical pollution has been caused by Shell operations.
Last year, Amnesty calculated that the equivalent of at least 9m barrels of oil has been spilled in the delta over the past half a century, nearly twice as much as the 5m barrels unleashed in the Gulf of Mexico by the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
Tonight the investigation was accused of bias by Nigerians and environmental groups who said the study – paid for by Shell and commissioned by the Nigerian government, who both have massive oil interests in the region – was unbalanced.
Ben Ikari, an Ogoni activist, said: “Nobody from Ogoniland would be surprised, because the federal government of Nigeria and Shell are the same cabal that killed Ken Saro-Wiwa and others.”
Ben Amunwa of London-based oil watchdog group Platform said: “The UNEP study relies on bogus figures from Shell and incomplete government records. Many Ogoni suspect that the report’s focus on sabotage and bunkering will be used to justify military repression notorious in the Niger delta, where non-violent activists, including Ken Saro-Wiwa, were executed.”
Cowing defended the UN report. In a series of emails seen by the Guardian, he said: “UNEP is not responsible for allocating responsibility for the number of spills being found in Ogoniland. Rather, we are focusing on the science. The figures referred to are those of the ministry of the environment and the department of petroleum resources.
“This is a Nigerian issue, not a UNEP issue. However, I would add that from our extensive field work throughout Ogoniland we have witnessed, on a daily basis, very large scale bunkering operations.
“It’s very controversial. We cannot say whether a particular spill is from one cause or another. Our observation is that there is a serious [bunkering ] problem. I am being seen to be siding with the oil companies, but I am not.
“We were provided with the official spill site list. This is given by the oil companies themselves but is endorsed by the [government] agencies. We are not on the side of the oil companies.”
He denied the UN was being influenced by Shell or the government. “We believe that it is correct that Shell [Nigeria] fund the study, as this is in compliance with the internationally accepted norm of the ‘polluter pays’. No party … will be able to influence the science.”
The full report, due to be published by December, is expected to warn of an environmental catastrophe.
“This is not directly comparable to the spills that occurred in the Gulf [of Mexico],” said Cowing. “But we have a serious and profound problem.”
Tonight, environmental groups expressed shock at the report. Nnimmo Bassey, chair of Friends the Earth International and director of Environmental Rights Action, Nigeria’s leading environment group, said: “It is incredible that the UN says that 90% is caused by communities. The UNEP assessment is being paid for by Shell. Their conclusions may be tailored to satisfy their client. We monitor spills regularly and our observation is the direct opposite of what UNEP is planning to report.”
A June 2009 report by Amnesty International called the damage in the delta a “human rights tragedy”, and blamed the government and oil firms, mainly Shell, for years of pollution. It recognised that oil bunkering had caused spills, but said “the scale of this problem is not clear”.
The UN report saw more than 1,000 soil and water tests and other investigationscarried out, and hundreds of communities consulted. The data generated is the first step towards a massive clean-up.
Oil production in the delta started during the 1950s, but was suspended in the 90s due to unrest. The oil fields in Ogoniland have since remained dormant.
Tags: Niger Delta, Shell
Posted in Niger Delta, Shell, UNEP | No Comments »
Posted by jinn on 2nd December 2009
In this week’s East Bay Express, reporter Peter Asmus outlines the coordinated efforts of several organizations working together to expose Chevron’s human rights abuses and environmental injustices. JINN is one of several organizations featured.
The Case Against ChevronCorrection posted on the East Bay Express website by JINN Founder regarding her quotes in the Nigeria section of the article below:
JINN wants to thank the East Bay Express and journalist Peter Asmus for thoughtful and detailed coverage of “The Case Against Chevron,” which describes the strength of the coalition that is demanding the company act responsibly with regard to its past liabilities and current operations. I need to offer a few corrections: Justice in Nigeria Now (JINN), the organization I founded and volunteer with may do the work of a larger organization, but it presently is staffed by one Coordinator. The sentence attributed to me stating that “military rogues” blew up the oil facilities is not an accurate quote. In fact, it was armed political militants who took this action in response to military attacks on civilians living in villages near Chevron’s facility in Warri. According to these political militants, they were motivated to substantially shut down oil production because the military attacks injured, killed and displaced villagers who were innocent civilians. The situation in the Delta is complex. It is important to note that for the first 50 years of oil extraction the strongest message by villagers trying to survive in their own communities consisted of non violent protest. Civil disobedience was aimed at oil companies by villagers whose self sufficient lifestyle was destroyed by oil operations that polluted and salinized their water, decimating the fish they ate and ruining their livelihood. Over the last few years, an armed militancy developed in the region. Nonetheless, the large majority of the Delta’s estimated 20 million residents continue to act and live peacefully and nonviolently. To this day, many villagers demonstrate in the spirit of Martin Luther King or Ken Saro Wiwa armed only with placards and songs. At the same time, there is also a set of armed militant groups with political demands who witnessed the suppression of peaceful protests by military might sometimes at the behest of oil companies (who have admitted flying the notoriously brutal Nigerian military to the site of a sit in and paying the Nigerian military field allowances.) The political militants demand the development of the Delta by reinvesting some of the massive $700 billion in profits that Big Oil and the Nigerian government have reaped back into local communities who seek to survive on the land from which this money was extracted. Their demands include jobs, electrification, clean water, and education. When pondering the relatively new development of the armed militancy, one must be take into account that interrupting oil production garners the attention of the international media, the U.S. government, the Nigerian government and even U.S. consumers concerned about prices at the pump. This attention is something that peaceful protesters were unable to muster. All of us who use gas are complicit in the circumstances that make militancy seem attractive. While there are actors employing a range of tactics it is important not to confuse peaceful villagers and armed militant groups, even when they make the same demands. I’m afraid at times Mr. Asmus’ article fails to make that distinction. Laura Livoti Founder Justice In Nigeria Now
The oil industry is more powerful today than at any other time in history save the early 20th century. Thanks to last year’s record run-up in oil prices, seven of the world’s most valuable corporations are now oil companies. Yet just one of those companies has become the focus of intense consumer ire.
Perhaps the largest coordinated activist campaign in history is being launched against the San Ramon-based Chevron Corporation. Foregoing boycotts and other traditional market campaign techniques, non-governmental organizations are creatively communicating the business case for why Chevron should change its ways, focusing on mobilizing company shareholders and consumers to compel the company to come clean and pursue social and environmental leadership.
This unprecedented campaign to make Chevron the poster child of corporate irresponsibility has already persuaded pension funds in California, Maryland, New York, and Pennsylvania to consider selling a total of $12 billion in Chevron shares on the grounds that the firm is mismanaging its operations around the globe. The prime focus of this ongoing anti-Chevron effort has been the company’s annual shareholder meetings, but protests at the Richmond refinery and a series of movie and PR stunts have been also been effective tactics….Read full article
Nigeria Section of article:
Nigeria may represent Chevron’s toughest challenge yet. What happens in Nigeria could have major impacts on future operations in a continent destined to become the top oil producer for the United States in the coming decades. In fact, Africa already supplies the United States with more oil than the Middle East.
Nigeria’s population of 150 million people makes it the most populous country in Africa. The country is torn by cultural and religious strife. The north is predominately Muslim and has traditionally dominated governing structures. The south is comprised primarily of poor Christian populations living near the oil reserves in the Niger Delta, a former fishing community. These southerners traditionally have not had much voice in governmental affairs.
Oil operations have decimated fish populations, interrupting the traditional way of life in the Niger Delta. Many villagers write long detailed letters to Chevron about the impacts oil operations have on their lives — but they never get a response. Chevron employees live in barricades so they have no interaction with the local population. As of late, villagers have become armed and steal oil — locals call it “bunkering” — and Chevron has begun to bribe armed rebels to allow oil to get to market, further entrenching a culture of corruption in Nigeria.
“Oil is so lucrative that a web of mysterious relationships between oil companies, the government, militants, and communities has evolved,” said Laura Livoti, founder of Justice in Nigeria Now, and a longtime activist and radio reporter. Without her group, the issues surrounding oil and this troubled African country would never make the news and become part of the ongoing dialogue about how to reform Chevron and other oil companies operating there. The media tends to ignore what happens in this part of the world, but Livoti’s group, with a staff of two, is determined to change that.
Earlier this year, for example, 20,000 villagers were displaced during a government-backed crackdown funded by Chevron. “No humanitarian aid was allowed, no journalists, no human-rights observers. Military rogues blew up facilities, which shut down the oil industry. Things got so bad, Chevron pulled out all non-essential employees,” Livoti said.
It was this development that prompted the government to offer an amnesty program for militants this past May. While many balked, a large number have come forward to accept amnesty, except the militants most committed to political ideals as well as genuine solutions to local poverty.
The militants and ongoing corruption in Nigeria complicates things. “When the Nigerians were peaceful protestors, it was a lot easier to gain sympathy,” acknowledged Livoti. “Now that an armed resistance as risen up in Nigeria, attracting sympathy — and financial support — is much more difficult,” she said. Read Full article
Tags: bay area, Chevron, East Bay Express, Ecuador, Nigeria, Peter Asmus, Richmond
Posted in Alien Tort Statute, Chevron, Niger Delta, Shell | No Comments »
Posted by jinn on 31st July 2009
We at JINN hope you have heard about Sweet Crude, the incredible film about the Niger Delta by Sandy Cioffi. The film was recently accepted into the prestigious International Documentary Association’s 2009 DocuWeeks™ theatrical showcase which opens tonight in LA at the Archlight Hollywood Theater in LA. This program was created to provide week-long theatrical runs in LA and NY, which are required to qualify for Oscar nomination! If you live in either city – go see the film and spread the word! You can become a fan of their page on Facebook for updated information.
View the trailer:
Sweet Crude is the story of Nigeria’s Niger Delta – the human and environmental consequences of 50 years of oil extraction, the history of non-violent protest, and the members of a new insurgency who, in the three years since the filmmakers met them as college students, became the young men of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND).
Check out the film’s web site: www.sweetcrudemovie.com
Date and Times at the ArcLight Hollywood Theater in LA:
More info and tickets
Screening schedule:
Fri 7/31 5:15 PM & 9:30 PM; Sat 8/1 3:40 PM & 7:15 PM; Sun 8/2 3:15 PM & 9:15 PM; Mon 8/3 3:15 PM & 9:35 PM; Tue 8/4 2:00 PM & 5:40 PM; Wed 8/5 5:15 PM & 9:30 PM; Thu 8/6 3:40 PM & 7:15 PM
NYC Dates:
More info and tickets
Screening schedule:
Fri 8/14 3:30 PM & 9:50 PM; Sat 8/15 12:00 PM & 5:15 PM; Sun 8/16 1:30 PM & 7:15 PM; Mon 8/17 3:30 PM & 9:50 PM; Tue 8/18 12:00 PM & 5:15 PM; Wed 8/19 1:30 PM & 7:15 PM; Thu 8/20 1:30 PM & 7:15 PM
Tags: Archlight Hollywood, Docuweek, International Documentary Association, julie wolf, MEND, Michael Watts, movies LA, Niger Delta, Nigeria, oil in Nigeria, Sandy Cioffi, Sweet Crude
Posted in Chevron, MEND, Niger Delta, Nigeria, Shell, Sweet Crude, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Posted by jinn on 10th July 2009
by Kia Mistilis
Reprinted from Foreign Policy in Focus: Editor: John Feffer and Jen Doak
Behind fighter-planes and gunboats, Nigerian forces launched a full-scale offensive in the Niger Delta on May 13, displacing 30,000 people and sparking a humanitarian crisis. Thousands of civilians fleeing destroyed villages are now trapped between armed resistance groups and the Nigerian military. These civilians are hiding in the bush without food, water, or medical supplies, let alone Internet access to alert the world of their plight, as Iranians are doing via Twitter.
Suanu Bere speaking at a Shell rally in San Francisco. Credit: Jan Stürmann
Against the backdrop of a world energy crisis, the media are reporting the region’s growing instability, mostly in terms of its effect on global oil supply and prices. For the 12 million people living in the Niger Delta, however, the struggle is about their survival.
Tags: Chevron, Foregin Policy in Focus, Ken Saro Wiwa, Kia Mistilis, Niger Delta, Ogoni, Shell
Posted in Chevron, Ken Saro Wiwa, Niger Delta, Shell, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Posted by jinn on 30th June 2009
On Tuesday June 30, Amnesty International released a major report detailing the the pollution and environmental damage caused by the oil companies while the Nigerian government continues to favor the oil companies and not the people of the Niger Delta. 
“Oil companies have been exploiting Nigeria’s weak regulatory system for too long,” said Audrey Gaughran of Amnesty International. “They do not adequately prevent environmental damage and they frequently fail to properly address the devastating impact that their bad practice has on people’s lives.”
This 143-page report covers explains how decades of neglect, human rights abuses and environmental damage has contributed to the current crisis in the Niger Delta.
Read the Summary and Full Report
Tags: Amnesty International, Chevron, Niger Delta, Nigeria, Oil, Shell
Posted in Chevron, MEND, Niger Delta, Nigeria, Shell, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Posted by jinn on 8th June 2009
Reprinted from Wiwavshell.org
Official Statement from Plaintiffs
Official Statement from Attorneys
New York, June 8, 2009 — Today, the parties in Wiwa v. Shell agreed to settle human rights claims charging the Royal Dutch/Shell company, its Nigerian subsidiary, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC or Shell Nigeria), and the former head of its Nigerian operation, Brian Anderson, with complicity in the torture, killing, and other abuses of Ogoni leader Ken Saro-Wiwa and other non-violent Nigerian activists in the mid-1990s in the Ogoni region of the Niger Delta.
The settlement, whose terms are public, provides a total of $15.5 million. These funds will compensate the 10 plaintiffs, who include family members of the deceased victims; establish a Trust intended to benefit the Ogoni people; and cover a portion of plaintiffs’ legal fees and costs. The settlement is only on behalf of the individual plaintiffs for their individual claims. It does not resolve outstanding issues between Shell and the Ogoni people, and the plaintiffs did not negotiate on behalf of the Ogoni people.
Plaintiff Ken Saro-Wiwa, Jr., the son of Ken Saro-Wiwa explained, “In reaching this settlement, we were very much aware that we are not the only Ogonis who have suffered in our struggle with Shell, which is why we insisted on creating the Kiisi Trust.” The Kiisi Trust—Kiisi means “Progress” in the plaintiffs’ Ogoni language—will allow for initiatives in Ogoni for educational endowments, skills development, agricultural development, women’s programs, small enterprise support, and adult literacy.
Judith Chomsky, cooperating attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), one of the attorneys who initiated the lawsuit, stated, “The fortitude shown by our clients in the 13-year struggle to hold Shell accountable has helped establish a principle that goes beyond Shell and Nigeria—that corporations, no matter how powerful, will be held to universal human rights standards.”
Added Jennie Green, the CCR staff attorney who initiated the lawsuit in 1996, “This was one of the first cases to charge a multinational corporation with human rights violations, and this settlement confirms that multinational corporations can no longer act with the impunity they once enjoyed.”
Wiwa v. Royal Dutch Petroleum, Wiwa v. SPDC, and Wiwa v. Anderson are three lawsuits filed by CCR, co-counsel EarthRights International (ERI), and private law firms on behalf of relatives of murdered Ogoni activists and other injured Ogonis who were fighting for human rights and environmental justice in their homeland.
Plaintiffs charged Royal Dutch Shell, Shell Nigeria, and Anderson with complicity in extrajudicial killing, crimes against humanity, torture, and other human rights claims. Plaintiffs in the case include the relatives of the executed activists Ken Saro-Wiwa, John Kpuinen, Saturday Doobee, Daniel Gbokoo, Felix Nuate, and Dr. Barinem Kiobel. Dr. Owens Wiwa, Ken Saro-Wiwa’s brother, and Michael Tema Vizor brought claims for the torture and detention that resulted in their exile from Nigeria. Further claims were brought by Karalolo Kogbara, who lost her arm, and on behalf of Uebari N-nah, who was killed in attacks on Ogoni civilians.
Anthony DiCaprio, an attorney who has worked on the case for many years, commented, “Throughout this very long process, I have been humbled by our clients’ unwavering courage and resilience. Their satisfaction with the result that we have been able to achieve is extremely gratifying.”
Human rights attorney Paul Hoffman, trial counsel in the Wiwa cases and partner at the law firm of Schonbrun, De Simone, Seplow, Harris and Hoffman, noted, “This settlement is only a first step towards the resolution of still outstanding issues between Shell and the Ogoni people.”
Oil operations in Nigeria have been chief among Shell’s assets for many decades. Critics charge that Shell’s aim for the lowest possible production cost, without regard for the resulting damage to the surrounding people and land, has wreaked havoc on local communities and the environment, including the still on-going practice of gas flaring. In the early 1990s, the Ogoni, led by Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, began organized, non-violent protests against Shell’s practices. Shell grew increasingly concerned with the heightened international prominence of the Ogoni movement and made payments to security forces that they knew to be engaging in human rights violations against the local communities. The military government violently repressed the demonstrations, arrested Ogoni activists, and falsely accused nine Ogoni activists of murder and bribed witnesses to give fake testimony. The nine, including Ken Saro-Wiwa, were denied a fair trial and then hanged on November 10, 1995.
Said Agnieszka Fryszman, co-counsel with the law firm of Cohen Millstein Sellers & Toll, “The case has been pending for many years, and this settlement puts an end to what would likely have been yet another long round of appeals.”
Marco Simons, ERI Legal Director, stated, “The courts repeatedly rejected Shell’s efforts to dismiss this case, setting important legal precedents for the continued prosecution of corporations in breach of international law. This reinforces the plaintiffs’ demands that corporations such as Shell safeguard human rights and the environment.”
For complete documentation of the legal briefs and further background information, click here or visit www.ccrjustice.org, www.earthrights.org, and www.sdshh.com.
Tags: Ken Saro Wiwa, Niger Delta, Nigeria, Ogoni, Shell, wiwa v shell
Posted in Alien Tort Statute, Ken Saro Wiwa, Niger Delta, Nigeria, Shell, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
Posted by jinn on 4th June 2009
June 3, 2009
By Han Shan, ShellGuilty
Shell Protest in San Francisco on May 19, organized by JINN in the lead up to the Wiwa v Shell trial
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.
The trial had been set to begin with jury selection last Wednesday, May 27th, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan. Last Tuesday, there was an 11th-hour postponement with no new trial date set. However, the court set a pre-trial conference with the two opposing counsel for Monday, June 1st. Late last Friday, the court announced that the Monday conference would be pushed back to Wednesday, June 3rd at 2pm. And today, that conference was canceled.
Presiding Judge Kimba Wood’s order says that the “trial remains adjourned sine die” which, with its poetic-sounding legal Latin, means that the trial is postponed indefinitely.
Does that mean it’s over, finished, done?!
No. But we really don’t know exactly what it means.
It could mean another court order is right around the corner that will set another pre-trial conference, or even set a date for jury selection – and the trial – to begin.
Or, as has been the subject of much speculation, the next thing we hear about may be an out-of-court settlement.
That would certainly cause more hand-wringing and teeth-gnashing but it would also make sense. Certainly, Shell doesn’t want this case to go to trial. They never did, and they filed motion after unsuccessful motion to try to keep it from happening. After losing the legal battle thus far, it’s easy to imagine that Shell would do anything it could – offering many millions of dollars of restitution to the plaintiffs comes to mind – to keep the trial date from ever coming.
And while many of us want to see Shell face the music for the crimes it has committed in Ogoni, we should also recognize that there are good reasons that the plaintiffs might want to settle and be done with this long legal struggle. I won’t enumerate them here, but I’ve reviewed the myriad reasons in my head and I would suggest that you do it yourself, if like me, your first thought on the idea of a settlement is that it’s some sort of terrible betrayal of everything the Ogoni people have fought for.
It’s not. And if there’s a settlement, we should be ready to support the plaintiffs as they declare victory, and work to keep the heat on Shell to end the crimes it continues to commit in communities cursed by the oil beneath their lands.
If Shell settles, they’ll try to spin it as if they were victims of a spurious extortion campaign by a bunch of trial lawyers using poor Nigerians as pawns (just watch). But if Shell – with its vastly superior resources – decides to settle, it will be because they realized that the evidence against them was overwhelming, and they made a deal that would allow them to pretend they’re innocent, and, well, play the victim.
Shell is victim only to hubris and to the self-destructive belief that it will forever get away with making human rights abuses and environmental devastation part of its business as usual.
Like many others, I am eager to see a trial. As determined as I am to support the plaintiffs who have known so much suffering and struggle, it would be hard to conceal my disappointment at news of a settlement. So I’m going to focus on the much more exciting possibility… that the trial has been delayed in order to broaden the case.
Okay, I’m not a lawyer so I don’t know if ‘broaden the case’ really describes what I mean. But today, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals added a very interesting wrinkle to the case that could explain the delay.
From a press release from the Center for Constitutional Rights, co-counsel on the lawsuit against Shell:
Today, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the District Court decision dismissing the Wiwa v. Shell plaintiffs’ claims against Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, Ltd. (Shell Nigeria). The District Court had dismissed the case against Shell Nigeria on March 4, 2008, finding it did not have jurisdiction over the company because the plaintiffs had failed to establish that Shell Nigeria was doing sufficient business in the United States to justify trying them in U.S. courts. The effect of the appellate court decision is to permit the plaintiffs to seek further information to establish Shell Nigeria’s connections to the United States.
When the plaintiffs filed the lawsuit against Shell, they charged Royal Dutch Shell, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (Shell Nigeria), and Brian Anderson, head of Shell Nigeria when the abuses at issue took place. The District Court dismissed the charges against Shell Nigeria (allowing the other cases against Royal Dutch Shell and Mr. Anderson to go forward). Under the Alien Tort Statute, a company has to have a certain level of interest in the United States to come under the federal court’s jurisdiction. The District Court said that Shell Nigeria didn’t. But the plaintiffs argued on appeal that they should be granted the opportunity to do more discovery to determine whether or not this is actually the case. And according to the decision by the Circuit Court today, the plaintiffs prevailed.
Now the issue is kicked back to the District Court. And here’s where it gets really interesting.
It’s possible that Chief Judge Kimba Wood – aware that a decision was coming from the Circuit Court on this key issue – delayed the trial in order to make time to consider whether Shell Nigeria should be a defendant.
Of course, all the parties remain tight-lipped, so I really have no way of knowing. And I speculate partly for my own sanity.
So we all wait on pins and needles to hear what’s next – whether news of a settlement or the opening of this landmark trial or the confirmation of a formal delay to consider whether Shell Nigeria will join its parent company in the dock. Any which way it turns out, the Ogoni people have already put Shell on trial and found them guilty. And they’ve been witness to Shell’s crimes in ways that I hope and pray no-one else will again.
Tags: Judge Kimba Wood, Ken Saro Wiwa, Niger Delta, Ogoni, Shell, wiwa v shell
Posted in Ken Saro Wiwa, Niger Delta, Nigeria, Shell | No Comments »
