ROYAL DUTCH/SHELL

ROYAL DUTCH/SHELL

Virtual Truth Commission

Cited in Human Rights Watch, Corporations and Human Rights for corporate complicity in human rights violations...In the UK, Germany and South Africa protestors engaged in a series of actions against Royal Dutch/Shell after the hanging of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni activists in Nigeria in November 1995....Some corporations displayed a flatly intransigent attitude to human rights criticism of their practices. Before and after the hanging of Ken Saro-Wiwa, Royal Dutch/Shell provided both increased financial investment and a diplomatic public relations shield for the Nigerian government. In newspaper advertisements Shell ran in Europe, the company blamed Saro-Wiwa's execution on those protesting his unfair trial.

Index of sites with information about Shell's human rights practices. "Shell Oil."

The Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies-- commonly known as "Shell"-- is the largest foreign oil company in Nigeria. For three decades, Shell has drilled oil in the Niger Delta region with little regard for the sensitivity of Delta ecosystems or the rights of the region's communities. In recent years, the Ogoni people and other Delta residents have protested Shell's legacy of pollution. The Nigerian Military Dictatorship responded with a wave of brutal massacres and arrests that culminated with the November 1995 execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa-- a leading environmentalist and Ogoni leader. Since the execution of Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogonis, Friends of the Earth has pressured Shell to clean up its production and end the company's complicity with the continuing human rights abuses of the Nigerian government. Corporate Campaign: Royal Dutch/Shell in Nigeria

The U.S. is by far the single largest market for Nigerian oil, purchasing between 35 and 45 percent of total production annually. Figures for 1996, the most current, place U.S. purchases of Nigerian crude at over $4 billion dollars.(595,000 barrels per day according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration) 1998 marks the 40th year of oil production operations in Nigeria, initiated by Shell in 1958. In that time the company has pumped $30 billion worth of oil from Ogoniland alone and well over $100 billion worth of oil from the whole country. Nigeria's oil wealth has financed decades of military dictatorships and made Shell one of the largest and most profitable corporations in the world, but it has brought only oppression, poverty and pollution to the Nigerian people. A Proposal to Impose Sanctions on Nigeria by Jennifer Davis, The Africa Fund Presented to the Council on Foreign Relations, New York January 30, 1998 For additional information: The Africa Fund, 17 John Street, New York, NY 10038 USA. Tel: (212) 962-1210 Fax: (212) 964-8570. E-mail:

Under Nigerian law all oil production operations are structured as joint ventures between the multinationals and the State oil company -- with the foreign firms as minority partners. This means that Shell, Mobil, Chevron and the other foreign producers are literally business partners with the Nigerian military government. (Most joint ventures are 60 percent owned by the state and 40 percent by the multinationals. A few later ventures are 51-49.) All the oil companies are deeply and structurally connected to the repressive apparatus of the state. All oil companies are required to pay the salaries and expenses of a special armed and uniformed national police force tasked with guarding oil industry facilities. These are not company security guards but national security forces answerable to the dictatorship. In addition, after years of public denials, Shell was finally forced to admit that it purchased thousands of guns and millions of rounds of ammunition for its police contingent, known among the people as the "Shell Police." ( There are also "Mobil police", etc.) According to the State Department's 1996 country human rights report ALL Nigerian security forces engaged in widespread and systematic human rights abuses, although MOSOP has charged that the Shell Police have been particularly brutal. Moreover, Shell again after strenuous denials had to admit last year that it made special payments to the notorious Rivers State Internal Security Task Force (known as the "Kill and Go Boys") the paramilitary occupation unit engaged in the brutal repression of MOSOP and the minority Ogoni people. In one documented case, a task force unit paid by Shell to disrupt an Ogoni protest over a Shell pipeline opened fire on the peaceful demonstrators, killing one person and wounding several others. Ken Saro Wiwa's trial and execution in 1995 focused world attention on what were longstanding acute tensions between Shell and the Ogoni people; millions saw grim pictures of environmental devastation and brutal military occupation. A Proposal to Impose Sanctions on Nigeria by Jennifer Davis, The Africa Fund Presented to the Council on Foreign Relations, New York January 30, 1998

Shell's own internal documents confirm that the company spied on Saro-Wiwa in the 1990s as he traveled internationally to build awareness of Shell's role in Nigeria and it failed completely in 1995 to condemn the farcical proceedings of the Military Tribunal which condemned him and his 8 fellow protestors to death, although the proceedings were strongly condemned by by among others, Amnesty, Article 19, the UN and the International Court of Justice. In an effort to head off the executions, Ken's brother Owens met with then Shell Nigeria MD Brian Andersson to seek the company's intervention. According to Wiwa, Andersson said the company would be prepared to use its vast influence to commute the sentence but only if MOSOP repudiated its claims of environmental pollution and ended the international campaign. Only at the 11th hour did the company finally issue a brief public statement urging clemency on humanitarian grounds. At the same time running ads in the British press suggesting that the human rights and environmental movements should bear responsibility for the executions. In the face of growing MOSOP and international pressure for change the company has responded with claims of corporate good citizenship and an expensive effort to portray MOSOP as terrorist and unrepresentative, rather than acknowledging the movement's extensive support and seeking ways to address the urgent political and economic agendas MOSOP presents. A Proposal to Impose Sanctions on Nigeria by Jennifer Davis, The Africa Fund Presented to the Council on Foreign Relations, New York January 30, 1998

Efforts to have multi-national oil companies, among other corporations operating in Nigeria has also met with limited success at best. While meetings have occurred with Shell, Shell USA and Mobil Shell USA has maintained its defense that it is not involved and has no influence on Shell Nigeria. At the same time Shell has begun making preparations to return to business in Ogoniland. Amniesty International: Nigeria -- Year of Shame

Nigeria is important to world energy markets because it is an OPEC member and one of the world's top ten oil exporters. The country is a major oil supplier to both the United States and Western Europe. LKJ Associates Country Analysis Nigeria

Shell, the Anglo-Dutch oil multinational, has been found guilty of providing the Nigerian military with weapons to use against the Ogoni. Pratab Chatterjee, "Oil Giant Accused of Aiding Army Atrocities," San Francisco, Dec 29, IPS.

In Colombia, a consortium composed of Occidental Petroleum, Royal Dutch/Shell, and the national oil company, ECOPETROL, which operates the Caño-Limón oil field in Arauca department, took no action to address reports of extrajudicial executions and a massacre committed by the state forces assigned to protect the consortium’s facilities. The companies’ response was that human rights violations were the responsibility of governments, and they did not announce any programs to ensure that their security providers do not commit human rights violations. Royal Dutch/Shell, the only member of the consortium with human rights policies, announced its intent to sell its share of this project as part of an overall divestiture of its Colombian holdings. Corporations and Human Rights, a survey by Human Rights Corporation as part of their World Report 1999.

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