Resources
Report on Chevron’s Recent Human Rights Abuses in Ugborodo, Nigeria
As JINN reported in November 2008, while Chevron was on trial for the human rights abuses committed in the Niger Delta in 1998, they were simultaneously paying the Nigerian military to again attack and kill unarmed protesters. Shorting after the November 20th incident, JINN’s ally in Nigeria – Environmental Rights Action issued a report on the events in Ugborodo. Read Report.
Testimony of Nnimmo Bassey, Executive Director of Environmental Rights Action
On September 25, 2008, Mr. Bassey testified at the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law regarding the human rights abuses committed by Chevron, Shell and other oil companies in the Niger Delta.
Excerpt: Oil companies, including Chevron and Shell, have repeatedly used the Nigerian military to violently repress Delta inhabitants’ peaceful protests, causing deaths and injuries, and creating an environment in which ordinary citizens are unable to exercise their rights to free expression. Read the Full Testimony
The Senate subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law, formerly headed by Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) has unfortunately been recently eliminated. This subcommittee was responsible for such laws as the Genocide Accountability Act, which makes it a crime to commit genocide anywhere in the world. The 111th congress needs this subcommittee. You can call for its reinstatement.
Drilling and Killing: A Radio Documentary
In 1999, Amy Goodman from Democracy Now! went to Nigeria to report on how oil companies operated in the Niger Delta. She and her colleague Jeremy Scahill learned more than they expected. While there, Amy and Jeremy interviewed several people regarding the incident on Chevron’s Parabe platform that led to the killing of two peaceful protesters. Their interviewees admitted to several allegations including that Chevron paid for and transported the Nigerian military to come to the Parabe Platform and that the protesters were unarmed.
Upon their return, they produced the radio documentary Drilling and Killing. It remains one of the best sources of information regarding the shootings on the Parable Platform that has led to the court cases to be tried this September in San Francisco. Listen to the radio documentary.
Oil For Nothing
In 1999 a delegation of 9 U.S activists academics and journalists organized by Global Exchange traveled to Nigeria to visit communities in the Niger Delta that have been adversely affected by oil extraction by multinational oil companies including Bay Area based Chevron Corp. As a result of their delegation they produced a report called “Oil for Nothing: Multinational Corporations, Environmental Destruction, Death and Impunity in the Niger Delta.”
Though this report was produced almost 10 years ago. The delegations findings and recommendations still apply today.
Reports on the Niger Delta Conflict
Human Rights Watch
The Warri Crisis: Fueling Violence
This report is based partly on research in September 2003, but also upon the reports of informed observers, including nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), government spokespeople, oil company staff, journalists, and the assertions of the political leaders of each of the three ethnic groups involved in the violence—the Ijaw, Itsekiri and Urhobo.
International Crisis Group
Nigeria: Seizing the Moment in the Niger Delta (April 30, 2009)
Fueling the Niger Delta Crisis
Nigeria: Want in the Midst of Plenty
The Swamps of Isurgency: Niger’as Delta Unrest
These report focuses on more recent developments Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation and perhaps
also its most poorly understood. They examine the often hazy overlap between the militant Niger Delta cause and criminal and political motives, and identify the steps required to defuse the conflict.