Niger Delta activist and lawyer Chima Williams writes in The Guardian Comment is Free section today, revealing some of the ugly details of the case and placing Shell’s appalling environmental record under scrutiny:
As Nigerian villagers take Shell to court over huge oil spills, it’s time for the group to take responsibility for polluting practices
A court in The Hague considers on 3 December whether Shell can be held liable for alleged pollution in Nigeria, and a ruling is expected on 30 December. This case could set a precedent for corporations based in Europe that exploit lax environmental regulations and violate the rights of communities in the developing world.
In the village of Ikot Ada Udot, south-eastern Nigeria, a rusty complex of tubes pokes five feet out of the ground. A familiar sight to locals, it is known as the “Christmas tree”. But unlike its innocuous namesake, this “tree” is an abandoned oil wellhead owned by oil multinational Shell. According to environmentalists, the wellhead spewed toxic oil and gas into the land and fish ponds of local villagers for months in August 2006, and again in 2007. As of May 2008, the area around the Christmas tree was still heavily polluted and villagers remain destitute.
As Peter Voser becomes Shell’s new CEO on 1st July, his inbox is already feeling the weight of a 143-page report from Amnesty International, and a critical report from the ShellGuilty coalition. The reports document Shell’s appalling impact on the human rights of oil-producing communities in Nigeria and Shell’s impact on the global climate, respectively. They will make unsettling reading for Shell, the largest operator in Nigeria’s oil fields, and campaigners are urging the company to address the social and environmental injustices occurring daily in the oil-rich Niger Delta. You can take action here.
Audrey Gaughran, author of the Amnesty International report said:
Despite its public claims to be a socially and environmentally responsible corporation, Shell continues to directly harm human rights through its failure to adequately prevent and mitigate pollution and environmental damage in the Niger Delta.
In the wake of the announcement of Shell’s payment of $15.5 Million USD to settle the Wiwa v. Shell lawsuit out-of-court, there was a flurry of press coverage around the world.
In the U.S., where the legal action was filed and where reporters and interested parties waited for a trial to begin in the District Court in Manhattan, the coverage was strong for a day or two in predictable outlets and then quickly pushed out of the spotlight by other pressing news – rising tensions with North Korea, the ongoing economic crisis, a celebrity’s new tattoo.
In the U.K., the breaking news coverage of the settlement was also strong but also carried on a bit longer, with more analysis of the implications of the settlement and some review of the evidence that would have been presented to a jury had the trial gone forward.
In Nigeria, there were plenty of stories, though media reaction to the settlement was more mixed. Many of the stories also connected the story to the larger crisis faced by oil-afflicted communities in the Niger Delta.
Elsewhere, there was more interesting coverage – from Shell’s headquarters in the Netherlands to New Zealand. Below is a roundup of English-language media highlights: Read the rest of this entry »
A week ago, on the eve of a highly embarrassing trial, oil giant Shell was forced to pay out $15.5 million to settle a land-mark legal case that it had been fighting for thirteen years against the family of executed writer Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Nigerians.
The legal case argued that Shell was complicit in Saro-Wiwa’s murder as well as with the Nigerian military in their systematic campaign of violence by providing money and logistical support through helicopters, buses and boats.
To this day, Shell has consistently maintained its innocence in statements to its shareholders and the press. Yet court documents and depositions show a vastly different story. They provide a compelling case of systematic collusion with the ruthless Nigerian military and Mobile Police Force, known locally as the “Kill and Go”. It is this evidence that many believe forced Shell to settle. They hoped you would never see it. Read the rest of this entry »
By law, certain documents related to court cases are publicly available for download. You can visit the Public Access to Electronic Court Records (PACER) database and see the case ‘docket’ which will contain many hyperlinked documents. Much of it is simply listed by exhibit number and it may be difficult to understand where different kinds of documentary evidence or depositions are filed. However, an abundance of previously hidden evidence relating to Shell’s role in the abuses committed against the Ogoni people can be uncovered with a bit of patience. Here’s how to access the information:
1. Register with the PACER database here: http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/
Note: you will have to provide a credit card as document downloads cost $.08 per page.
3. Login using your PACER username & password, (you don’t need a ‘client code’).
4. To see the complete docket with all the available documents, as well as ‘minute reports’ from pre-trial hearings and conferences, click on ‘Docket Sheet’ (you should see a link, but it’s also under ‘Reports’ in the toolbar at the top).
5. Put in the Wiwa v. Shell case number including the hyphen: 96-8386, and click the button next to the field called ‘find this case’. Choose ‘Sort by’ Newest date first and make sure you’ve ticked ‘Include Headers when displaying PDF documents’ under ‘Document options.’ Leave ‘Format’ as ‘html’
6. The list of all court motions and filings will appear.
7. Once you are set up on PACER, you can download these at the cost of 8 cents per page. The files are downloaded as ‘.pl’ files– you will need to manually change the extension to ‘.pdf’ in order to open them.
When a settlement was announced in the landmark Wiwa v Shell case, Shell stated that it ‘had no part in the violence that took place’ , and denied any responsibility for the military crack downs in Ogoniland that led to the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and his colleagues. This evening, the company’s denial of liability for human rights abuses came under fresh scrutiny.
The long-standing efforts of the plaintiff’s legal team has established a damning body of evidence against Shell, much of it from formerly confidential company memos. The evidence remains largely unpublished, but is accessible via public court records.
Research conducted by ShellGuilty coalition members PLATFORM/Remember-Saro-Wiwa and Channel 4 into this documentary evidence exposes Shell’s intimate relationship with the military and shows how the alliance of the Nigerian regime and Shell used force to keep the Ogoni ‘under control’. For the first time, we bring you the documents that Shell does not want you knowing about.
PART ONE:
PART TWO:
For 14 years, Shell has denied responsibility for the violence and to this day, the company only admits to having paid field allowances to the military on two occasions. According to Shell, neither of these occasions resulted in human rights abuses.
These documents reveal that Shell lied to its staff, its shareholders, the general public and even the then UK Prime Minister, John Major over the nature of their partnership with and support of the Nigerian military.
How much longer can the company deny its critical role in the murder, torture and repression of Ogoni people? The research into the case against Shell will continue to shed new light on Shell’s complicity, reenforcing global efforts to hold Shell accountable in the court of public opinion.
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. Read the rest of this entry »
Ahead of the expected opening of the Wiwa v. Shell trial in New York, San Francisco-based Justice in Nigeria Now helped kick off the global protests, rallies and vigils in solidarity with the Ogoni people and other oil-affected communities in Nigeria with a protest at a Shell gas station in San Francisco on May 19th.
Last week, the historic trial against Shell oil filed by the family of Ken Saro-Wiwa and others was delayed by one more week. According to the article by the AFP, the Judge Kimba Wood gave no explanation for the delay:
NEW YORK (AFP) — A pre-trial conference scheduled in the potentially landmark lawsuit brought by Nigerian plaintiffs against oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has been delayed until Wednesday, court papers show. Read Full Article
Ogoni Activist Suanu Bere speaks at San Francisco Shell protest. credit: Jan Sturmann
However, protests and rallies that began on May 19 for Shell’s shareholder meeting in the Hague and in London continued last week to call on Shell to end gas flaring in the Niger Delta - a demand that Wiwa and the Ogoni’s were asking for over 15 years ago and people of the Delta are still asking today. Read the rest of this entry »
CNN producer Christian Purefoy visits Ogoni and the grave of Ken Saro-Wiwa to report on conditions there, the ongoing grievances against Shell, and the feeling of local Ogoni people about the upcoming Wiwa v. Shell trial.
Today, a noon rally took place in New York outside the courtroom on Foley Square in Manhattan. A hundred supporters came out to welcome the trial, unfurling a banner that read, ‘JUSTICE FOR THE OGONI’. Inspiring speakers stressed that Shell cannot escape justice for their role in human rights abuses in the 1990s, and put pressure on Shell to end the ongoing environmental and social devastation in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region. A group of Ogoni activists closed the event by singing the Ogoni solidarity anthem.
The event was well-attended by media from a number of TV, radio, print and wire outlets. Supporters distributed handbills to passersby, explaining our rally and educating the public about the issues our campaign is highlighting. The rally was supported by local human rights and environmental justice activists and concerned citizens from around the New York area, and as far away as California, the UK, and of course, Nigeria.
Speakers included Brent Blackwelder, Executive Director of Friends of the Earth, Ben Amunwa from Remember Saro-Wiwa, Nigerian activist Isidore Udoh, Ben Ikara, a MOSOP activist from Ogoni, currently living in the U.S., and Steve Kretzmann from Oil Change International, Charles Wiwa, nephew of the late Ken Saro-Wiwa also made brief remarks before leading the Ogoni activists in the Ogoni solidarity anthem to conclude the rally. Read more and watch the video after the break– Read the rest of this entry »
A week ago, on the eve of a highly embarrassing trial, oil giant Shell was forced to pay out $15.5 million to settle a land-mark legal case that it had been fighting for thirteen years against the family of executed writer Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Nigerians.
