Shell pays out $15.5m over Saro-Wiwa killing
June 8th, 2009 | Published in press | 11 Comments
Ed Pilkington in New York
The Guardian UK, Monday 8 June 2009
The oil giant Shell has agreed to pay $15.5m (£9.7m) in settlement of a legal action in which it was accused of having collaborated in the execution of the writer Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other leaders of the Ogoni tribe of southern Nigeria.
The settlement is one of the largest payouts agreed by a multinational corporation charged with human rights violations. Shell and its Nigerian subsidiary SPDC have not conceded to or admitted any of the allegations, pleading innocent to all the civil charges.
But the scale of the payment is being seen by experts in human rights law as a step towards international businesses being made accountable for their environmental and social actions.
In the past, it has been notoriously difficult to bring and sustain legal actions involving powerful corporations.
The settlement follows three weeks of intensive negotiation between the plaintiffs, who largely consisted of relatives of the executed Ogoni nine, and Shell. “We spent a lot of time trying to put together something that would be acceptable to both sides, and our people are very pleased with the result,” said Anthony DiCaprio, the lead lawyer for the Ogoni side working with the New York-based Centre for Constitutional Rights.
The deal marks the end of a 14-year personal journey for Ken Saro-Wiwa Jr, son of the executed leader. Among the other plaintiffs was Karalolo Kogbara who lost an arm after she was shot by Nigerian troops when she protested against the bulldozing of her village in 1993 to make way for a Shell oil pipeline.
Though the settlement cannot compensate for individual losses of loved ones or livelihoods, the plaintiffs will now be able to pay all legal fees and costs. A sum of $5m will be used to set up a trust called Kiisi - meaning “progress” in the Ogoni Gokana language - to support educational, community and other initiatives in the Niger delta.
Shell has consistently denied any involvement in the decision of the Nigerian regime to execute the Ogoni nine. It argues it tried to plead with the government to grant clemency to the prisoners but to its great sadness the appeal went unheard.
Supporters of the legal action said the fact that Shell had walked away from the trial suggested the company had been anxious about the evidence that would have been presented to the jury had it gone ahead.
Stephen Kretzmann, director of Oil Change International, said Shell “knew the case was overwhelming against them, so they bought their way out of a trial”.
Among the documents that were lodged with the New York court was a 1994 letter from Shell in which it agreed to pay a unit of the Nigerian army for services rendered. The unit had retrieved one of the company’s fire trucks from the village of Korokoro - an action that according to reports at the time left one Ogoni man dead and two wounded. Shell wrote that it was making the payment “as a show of gratitude and motivation for a sustained favourable disposition in future assignments”.
Shell’s involvement in the oil-rich Niger delta extends back to 1958. It remains the largest oil business in Nigeria, owning some 90 oil fields across the country.
The Ogoni people began non-violent agitation against Shell from the early 1990s, under the leadership of Ken Saro-Wiwa and his organisation Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People. Mosop has long complained that the oil giant was responsible for devastating the ecosystem of the delta upon which Ogoni farmers and fishermen depend, through a combination of oil spills, forest clearance for pipelines and the burning of gas from oil-wells known as gas flares.
Human rights experts believe the settlement will have a substantial impact on other multinational corporations. DiCaprio predicted it would “encourage companies to seriously consider the social and environmental impact their operations may have on a community or face the possibility of a suit”.
June 8th, 2009 at 6:33 pm (#)
Very good to know that they Shell can be held accountable for once!
It shows that education and effective civil society that can frame the issues of the Niger Delta clearly and in a manner that can make it attract international attention will go along way in discouraging the irresponsibility of corporations in the region.
Well done everyone!!
Let us know whenever you need any support.
Hope Krukru.
June 8th, 2009 at 9:33 pm (#)
It is not an exaggeration to say that I am shocked to hear about this settlement. Are the plaintiffs INSANE? A quick internet search tells me that Royal Dutch Shell made $31.4 billion in profits in 2008 alone. To put this in perspective (and assuming this figure is correct): Shell made over $86 million PER DAY… last year alone. So the entire settlement amounts to approx. 4.5 HOURS worth of Shell’s daily profits. The Ogoni won nothing in this settlement and Shell knows it. Companies will “seriously consider” it all right - all this settlement does is send a loud and clear message to other human-rights abusing multinationals that they can continue to rake in obscene profits while evading accountability. Unbelievable!
June 9th, 2009 at 7:06 am (#)
I wonder if this will make any and all oil companies start to change their methods. It may not, as they’re only concerned with the bottom line.
June 9th, 2009 at 8:22 am (#)
[...] http://www.shellguilty.com The Poor Mouth The Raw Story [...]
June 9th, 2009 at 8:39 am (#)
[...] http://www.shellguilty.com The Poor Mouth The Raw Story var addthis_pub = ”; var addthis_language = ‘en’;var addthis_options = ‘email, favorites, digg, delicious, myspace, google, facebook, reddit, live, more’; [...]
June 9th, 2009 at 9:35 am (#)
I’m seizing this medium to thank Ken Wiwa Jr., other family members of the Ogoni 9, Nkaralolo Kogbara, Tema Vizor for bringing forth this landmark case that exposes $hell Oil for its human rights violations and crimes against humanity in Ogoni. My thanks goes especially to Ken Saro-Wiwa (8 others), who gave Ogoni this consciousness and sacrifice his life to bring about this day.
The New York based Center for Constitutional rights that championed this historic case is truly cherished for its guts and expertise. Han Shan of Shellguilty, Ben Amunwa of remember sarowiwa and Steve Kretzmann of Oil change international respectively-Amnesty International, Green Peace, friends of the Earth and all other human and environmental groups, individuals-that kept pressure on $hell for it to accept responsibility/accountability in the Ogoni killing are as well appreciated for their doggedheadedness in bringing this environmentally racist, cruel and deadly company to justice.
In my book, Ken Saro-Wiwa and MOSOP-The Story and revelation (2006), I’ve requested that people of good-will and groups assist Ogoni hold $hell responsible/accountable for its crimes against Ogoni and Niger Delta peoples of Nigeria. That call never went unheard! It’s a thing of joy to be alive as Ogoni and witness a day so predicted or prophecized by Saro-Wiwa before he’s murdered come to pass. “I repeat that we all stand before history. I and my colleagues are not the only ones on trial. Shell is here on trial,” Saro-Wiwa said.
For $hell and other corporatocrats, it’s no longer business as usual. Any violation committed or aided in any part of the world must be accounted for henceforth. $hell still owe Ogoni more than $30 billion in accrued royalties, rents and other compensations from its reckless operations for 35 years. It must also clean and revamp the degraded environment for Ogoni to leave it alone. No to $hell, shame on $hell, a company that kills to make profit!
June 9th, 2009 at 9:38 am (#)
I’m seizing this medium to thank Ken Wiwa Jr., other family members of the Ogoni 9, Nkaralolo Kogbara, Tema Vizor, etc. for bringing forth this landmark case that exposes $hell Oil for its human rights violations and crimes against humanity in Ogoni. My thanks goes especially to Ken Saro-Wiwa (8 others), who gave Ogoni this consciousness and sacrifice his life to bring about this day.
The New York based Center for Constitutional rights that championed this historic case is truly cherished for its guts and expertise. Han Shan of Shellguilty, Ben Amunwa of remember sarowiwa and Steve Kretzmann of Oil change international respectively-Amnesty International, Green Peace, friends of the Earth and all other human and environmental groups, individuals-that kept pressure on $hell for it to accept responsibility/accountability in the Ogoni killing are as well appreciated for their doggedheadedness in bringing this environmentally racist, cruel and deadly company to justice.
In my book, Ken Saro-Wiwa and MOSOP-The Story and revelation (2006), I’ve requested that people of good-will and groups assist Ogoni hold $hell responsible/accountable for its crimes against Ogoni and Niger Delta peoples of Nigeria. That call never went unheard! It’s a thing of joy to be alive as Ogoni and witness a day so predicted or prophecized by Saro-Wiwa before he’s murdered come to pass. “I repeat that we all stand before history. I and my colleagues are not the only ones on trial. Shell is here on trial,” Saro-Wiwa said.
For $hell and other corporatocrats, it’s no longer business as usual. Any violation committed or aided in any part of the world must be accounted for henceforth. $hell still owe Ogoni more than $30 billion in accrued royalties, rents and other compensations from its reckless operations for 35 years. It must also clean and revamp the degraded environment for Ogoni to leave it alone. No to $hell, shame on $hell, a company that kills to make profit!
June 9th, 2009 at 11:04 am (#)
Even though this is promising news for the people who try to get justice from corporations like Shell, there´s lots to do. Still Shell can claim it´s innocence. So, are Ken Saro-Wiwa Jr and other plaintiffs wrong? The truth must be told in a way that there is no room for speculation. Shell must admit it´s guilty explicitly, not with gestures that can be interpreted as ´humanitarian´ as one can read from the company´s web site:
“Shell today agreed to settle a court case in New York related to allegations in connection with the Nigerian military government’s execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and others in 1995, making a humanitarian gesture to set up a trust fund to benefit the Ogoni people.”
By the way, does anyone know how Shell will be related to this new Kiisi trust? I fear that Shell will use it as an efficient corporate propaganda tool. Will Kiisi mean progress for Shell or the people of Niger Delta?
Still,
Congratulations!
June 9th, 2009 at 12:20 pm (#)
DemocracyNow! (www.democracynow.org) has provided good coverage of the case, including reporting the settlement today, June 9, 2009. Ken Saro-Wiwa strikes me as the caliber of non-violent leader as Nelson Mandela, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr.; sadly, he was not able to fulfill his promise due to the violence of Shell Oil and the Nigerian government. I hope everyone is paying attention to the recent attacks on indigenous people in Peru by the Peruvian government in the government’s effort to open up the Peruvian Amazon rainforest to mining, logging, and oil exploration and drilling. DemocracyNow! provided extensive coverage of the situation on June 8.
June 10th, 2009 at 3:48 pm (#)
Kiisi Trust Deed:
http://wiwavshell.org/documents/Wiwa_v_Shell_TRUST_DEED.pdf
June 17th, 2009 at 11:53 pm (#)
Mikko,
I can understand your question, however, be rest assured that $hell can’t return to Ogoni anymore. The Kiisi Trust has nothing to do with our oil reserves, the rogue firm knows. It’s clear Ogoni don’t want $hell anymore, as it lost its chance with Saro-Wiwa in 1995. Whether it’s claiming this settlement is based on “humanitarian” grounds or not, the company know it’s guilty that’s why it settled. No company, especially deadly and well connected one such as $hell will pay for crimes it didn’t commit.
Why did it take more than 50 years for $hell to provide humanitarian aid to Ogoni if it isn’t joking to cover its shame? Saro-Wiwa said, “By the time I finish Shell will be ashamed to stand before the world,” and that’s the shame it’s battling. The company’s Public Relations (PR) outfit must do its work. That’s the reason you’ve read the humanitarian piece, and that it’s nothing to do with the violence in Ogoni.
Even if the trial had proceeded the company will not accept guilt, but could have said we respect the court decisions but disagree with the judgment because we did nothing wrong-then appeals between two to eight or more years would follow. Yet it did everything wrong.
Meanwhile $hell lost this battle long ago; the only time Ogoni would talk with $hell is when it’s prepared to discuss the cleaning and revamping of our degraded environment, pay outstanding $30 billion of accrued royalties, rents, and stop all forms of gas flaring in Niger Delta, etc. It may attempt to change its name to return to our oilfields or work in the current joint venture business with government (NNPC) oil firm. On this note, Ogonis are watching closely.
And no company will come back to Ogoni unless the Federal Government apologize to our people, pay its debt of royalties and rents it conscripted to its coffers, exonerate Saro-Wiwa and others at the home front and concede to the provisions of the Ogoni Bill of Rights, which political autonomy is a minimum demand.
The settlement so far is a stepping stone, but not the end of nothing! It’s the beginning of all nonviolent battle for environmental and resource control; the beginning of a just struggle to save Niger River Delta and other oppressed peoples of the world.