SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Shell, Slammed Over Human Rights and Environmental Abuses, Faces Hearing Over Nigeria
Oil giant accused of abusing human rights and destroying the environment at Dutch parliamentary hearing.
Jan 26, 2011
Environmental groups have accused oil giant Shell of abusing human rights and the environment in the Niger Delta at a Dutch parliamentary hearing.
Amnesty International and environmental NGOs have accused the Anglo-Dutch company of failing to clean up oil spills and continuing the hazardous practice of flaring gas from around 100 wells in the region.
"When will you stop treating people in Nigeria differently than you treat people in the Netherlands? When will you stop applying double standards?" Geert Ritsema of the NGO Milieudefensie, a branch of Friends of the Earth, asked Shell at the hearing in The Hague, the Netherlands, on Wednesday.
The groups are urging Dutch MPs to challenge the oil giant on its actions.
"We would like the government of the Netherlands to require Shell to disclose data, to disclose evidence to support the statements it makes," Audrey Gaughran, a spokeswoman for Amnesty International, said.
'Security issues'
Executives of Shell said the company applied "global standards" to its operations around the world, but added that sabotage and ineffective government prevents it from cleaning up environmental disasters in Nigeria.
Ian Craig, Shell's sub-Saharan Africa executive vice-president, admitted that flares had not been reduced sufficiently, but blamed "security issues" hampering access to the affected areas.
"Security has impacted our ability to maintain pipelines. If you cannot secure people's safety, they cannot do work on the pipelines," he said.
But he said Shell payment for damage from exploded pipelines would provide a "perverse incentive" for more violence in the area, and said the company already compensates residents for pollution caused by oil spills.
Ritsema urged Dutch MPs to ensure that Shell uses "its considerable profits from Nigeria to maintain the pipelines in a much better state than they are now, to secure the pipelines to prevent sabotage, to stop oil flares".
Sunny Ofehe Hope, for the Niger Delta Campaign, said 50 years of Shell's presence in Nigeria had culminated in "a revolution that has galvanised the youth to take up arms against the same oil companies that made promises to us but couldn't deliver.
"We have seen our environment destroyed by the oil companies trying to make profit. What we have today in the Niger Delta are swamps, polluted. Our major occupation, fishing and farming, has been taken away from us," Ofehe said.
Nigeria, the world's eighth largest oil exporter, recorded at least 3,000 oil spills between 2006 and June last year, John Odey, its environment minister, has said.
Shell, which discovered oil in the Niger Delta in 1956, has been the dominant oil company in the former British protectorate.
It has been condemned by both environmentalists and community activists over pollution and the extreme poverty and poor standard of living in the region.
Wednesday's hearings with the Dutch parliament are part of what it called a "fact-finding session" to address Shell's work in Nigeria, following concern over the company's operations in the area.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Environmental groups have accused oil giant Shell of abusing human rights and the environment in the Niger Delta at a Dutch parliamentary hearing.
Amnesty International and environmental NGOs have accused the Anglo-Dutch company of failing to clean up oil spills and continuing the hazardous practice of flaring gas from around 100 wells in the region.
"When will you stop treating people in Nigeria differently than you treat people in the Netherlands? When will you stop applying double standards?" Geert Ritsema of the NGO Milieudefensie, a branch of Friends of the Earth, asked Shell at the hearing in The Hague, the Netherlands, on Wednesday.
The groups are urging Dutch MPs to challenge the oil giant on its actions.
"We would like the government of the Netherlands to require Shell to disclose data, to disclose evidence to support the statements it makes," Audrey Gaughran, a spokeswoman for Amnesty International, said.
'Security issues'
Executives of Shell said the company applied "global standards" to its operations around the world, but added that sabotage and ineffective government prevents it from cleaning up environmental disasters in Nigeria.
Ian Craig, Shell's sub-Saharan Africa executive vice-president, admitted that flares had not been reduced sufficiently, but blamed "security issues" hampering access to the affected areas.
"Security has impacted our ability to maintain pipelines. If you cannot secure people's safety, they cannot do work on the pipelines," he said.
But he said Shell payment for damage from exploded pipelines would provide a "perverse incentive" for more violence in the area, and said the company already compensates residents for pollution caused by oil spills.
Ritsema urged Dutch MPs to ensure that Shell uses "its considerable profits from Nigeria to maintain the pipelines in a much better state than they are now, to secure the pipelines to prevent sabotage, to stop oil flares".
Sunny Ofehe Hope, for the Niger Delta Campaign, said 50 years of Shell's presence in Nigeria had culminated in "a revolution that has galvanised the youth to take up arms against the same oil companies that made promises to us but couldn't deliver.
"We have seen our environment destroyed by the oil companies trying to make profit. What we have today in the Niger Delta are swamps, polluted. Our major occupation, fishing and farming, has been taken away from us," Ofehe said.
Nigeria, the world's eighth largest oil exporter, recorded at least 3,000 oil spills between 2006 and June last year, John Odey, its environment minister, has said.
Shell, which discovered oil in the Niger Delta in 1956, has been the dominant oil company in the former British protectorate.
It has been condemned by both environmentalists and community activists over pollution and the extreme poverty and poor standard of living in the region.
Wednesday's hearings with the Dutch parliament are part of what it called a "fact-finding session" to address Shell's work in Nigeria, following concern over the company's operations in the area.
Environmental groups have accused oil giant Shell of abusing human rights and the environment in the Niger Delta at a Dutch parliamentary hearing.
Amnesty International and environmental NGOs have accused the Anglo-Dutch company of failing to clean up oil spills and continuing the hazardous practice of flaring gas from around 100 wells in the region.
"When will you stop treating people in Nigeria differently than you treat people in the Netherlands? When will you stop applying double standards?" Geert Ritsema of the NGO Milieudefensie, a branch of Friends of the Earth, asked Shell at the hearing in The Hague, the Netherlands, on Wednesday.
The groups are urging Dutch MPs to challenge the oil giant on its actions.
"We would like the government of the Netherlands to require Shell to disclose data, to disclose evidence to support the statements it makes," Audrey Gaughran, a spokeswoman for Amnesty International, said.
'Security issues'
Executives of Shell said the company applied "global standards" to its operations around the world, but added that sabotage and ineffective government prevents it from cleaning up environmental disasters in Nigeria.
Ian Craig, Shell's sub-Saharan Africa executive vice-president, admitted that flares had not been reduced sufficiently, but blamed "security issues" hampering access to the affected areas.
"Security has impacted our ability to maintain pipelines. If you cannot secure people's safety, they cannot do work on the pipelines," he said.
But he said Shell payment for damage from exploded pipelines would provide a "perverse incentive" for more violence in the area, and said the company already compensates residents for pollution caused by oil spills.
Ritsema urged Dutch MPs to ensure that Shell uses "its considerable profits from Nigeria to maintain the pipelines in a much better state than they are now, to secure the pipelines to prevent sabotage, to stop oil flares".
Sunny Ofehe Hope, for the Niger Delta Campaign, said 50 years of Shell's presence in Nigeria had culminated in "a revolution that has galvanised the youth to take up arms against the same oil companies that made promises to us but couldn't deliver.
"We have seen our environment destroyed by the oil companies trying to make profit. What we have today in the Niger Delta are swamps, polluted. Our major occupation, fishing and farming, has been taken away from us," Ofehe said.
Nigeria, the world's eighth largest oil exporter, recorded at least 3,000 oil spills between 2006 and June last year, John Odey, its environment minister, has said.
Shell, which discovered oil in the Niger Delta in 1956, has been the dominant oil company in the former British protectorate.
It has been condemned by both environmentalists and community activists over pollution and the extreme poverty and poor standard of living in the region.
Wednesday's hearings with the Dutch parliament are part of what it called a "fact-finding session" to address Shell's work in Nigeria, following concern over the company's operations in the area.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.