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In response to charges of human rights violations in Nigeria, Shell has made one of the largest recorded corporate payouts. Human rights lawyers view the settlement as a step towards international businesses being made accountable for the social and environmental impact of their actions.  

Settlement Reached in Human Rights Cases Against Royal Dutch Shell - CCR

Shell Pays out $15.5m over Saro-Wiwa Killing - Ed Pikington, Guardian (UK)

Shell Settlles Nigeria Killings Suit - Al Jazeera

Shell Settlement with Ogoni People Stops Short of Full Justice - John Vidal, Guardian (UK)

9th June 09 ~ STWR

Settlement Reached in Human Rights Cases Against Royal Dutch Shell

8th June 09 - Center for Constitutional Rights

Today, the parties in Wiwa v. Shell agreed to settle human rights claims charging the Royal Dutch/Shell company, its Nigerian subsidiary, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC or Shell Nigeria), and the former head of its Nigerian operation, Brian Anderson, with complicity in the torture, killing, and other abuses of Ogoni leader Ken Saro-Wiwa and other non-violent Nigerian activists in the mid-1990s in the Ogoni region of the Niger Delta.

The settlement, whose terms are public, provides a total of $15.5 million.  These funds will compensate the 10 plaintiffs, who include family members of the deceased victims; establish a Trust intended to benefit the Ogoni people; and cover a portion of plaintiffs’ legal fees and costs. The settlement is only on behalf of the individual plaintiffs for their individual claims.  It does not resolve outstanding issues between Shell and the Ogoni people, and the plaintiffs did not negotiate on behalf of the Ogoni people.

Plaintiff Ken Saro-Wiwa, Jr., the son of Ken Saro-Wiwa explained, “In reaching this settlement, we were very much aware that we are not the only Ogonis who have suffered in our struggle with Shell, which is why we insisted on creating the Kiisi Trust.”  The Kiisi Trust—Kiisi means “Progress” in the plaintiffs’ Ogoni language—will allow for initiatives in Ogoni for educational endowments, skills development, agricultural development, women’s programs, small enterprise support, and adult literacy.

Judith Chomsky, cooperating attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and of the attorneys who initiated the lawsuit, stated, “The fortitude shown by our clients in the 13-year struggle to hold Shell accountable has helped establish a principle that goes beyond Shell and Nigeria—that corporations, no matter how powerful, will be held to universal human rights standards.”

Added Jennie Green, the CCR staff attorney who initiated the lawsuit in 1996, “This was one of the first cases to charge a multinational corporation with human rights violations, and this settlement confirms that multinational corporations can no longer act with the impunity they once enjoyed.”

Wiwa v. Royal Dutch Petroleum, Wiwa v. SPDC, and Wiwa v. Anderson are three lawsuits filed by CCR, co-counsel EarthRights International (ERI), and private law firms on behalf of relatives of murdered Ogoni activists and other injured Ogonis who were fighting for human rights and environmental justice in their homeland.  Plaintiffs charged Royal Dutch Shell, Shell Nigeria, and Anderson with complicity in extrajudicial killing, crimes against humanity, torture, and other human rights claims.

Plaintiffs in the case include the relatives of the executed activists Ken Saro-Wiwa, John Kpuinen, Saturday Doobee, Daniel Gbokoo, Felix Nuate, and Dr. Barinem Kiobel.  Dr. Owens Wiwa, Ken Saro-Wiwa’s brother, and Michael Tema Vizor brought claims for the torture and detention that resulted in their exile from Nigeria.  Further claims were brought by Karalolo Kogbara, who lost her arm, and on behalf of Uebari N-nah, who was killed in attacks on Ogoni civilians.

Anthony DiCaprio, an attorney who has worked on the case for many years, commented, “Throughout this very long process, I have been humbled by our clients’ unwavering courage and resilience. Their satisfaction with the result that we have been able to achieve is extremely gratifying.”

Human rights attorney Paul Hoffman, trial counsel in the Wiwa cases and partner at the law firm of Schonbrun, De Simone, Seplow, Harris and Hoffman, noted, “This settlement is only a first step towards the resolution of still outstanding issues between Shell and the Ogoni people.” 

Oil operations in Nigeria have been chief among Shell’s assets for many decades. Critics charge that Shell’s aim for the lowest possible production cost, without regard for the resulting damage to the surrounding people and land, has wreaked havoc on local communities and the environment, including the still on-going practice of gas flaring.  In the early 1990s, the Ogoni, led by Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, began organized, non-violent protests against Shell’s practices.

Shell grew increasingly concerned with the heightened international prominence of the Ogoni movement and made payments to security forces that they knew to be engaging in human rights violations against the local communities.  The military government violently repressed the demonstrations, arrested Ogoni activists, and falsely accused nine Ogoni activists of murder and bribed witnesses to give fake testimony.  The nine, including Ken Saro-Wiwa, were denied a fair trial and then hanged on November 10, 1995.

Said Agnieszka Fryszman, co-counsel with the law firm of Cohen Millstein Sellers & Toll, “The case has been pending for many years, and this settlement puts an end to what would likely have been yet another long round of appeals.”

Marco Simons, ERI Legal Director, stated, “The courts repeatedly rejected Shell’s efforts to dismiss this case, setting important legal precedents for the continued prosecution of corporations in breach of international law. This reinforces the plaintiffs’ demands that corporations such as Shell safeguard human rights and the environment.” 

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Shell Pays out $15.5m over Saro-Wiwa Killing

9th June 09 - Ed Pikington, Guardian (UK)

The oil giant Shell has agreed to pay $15.5m (£9.6m) 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, reached on the eve of the trial in a federal court in New York, was one of the largest payouts agreed by a ­multinational corporation charged with human rights violations.

The scale of the payment was being seen by experts in human rights law as a step towards international businesses being made accountable for their environmental and social actions.

Jennie Green, a lawyer with the Centre for Constitutional Rights who initiated the lawsuit in 1996, said: "This was one of the first cases to charge a multinational corporation with human rights violations, and this settlement confirms that multinational corporations can no longer act with the impunity they once enjoyed."

The deal follows three weeks of ­intensive negotiation between the 10 plaintiffs, mainly drawn from relatives of the executed Ogoni nine, and Shell. The oil giant, and its Nigerian subsidiary Shell Petroleum Development Company, continue to dismiss all the claims made against them, saying they played no part in the violence that swept southern Nigeria in the 1990s.

The company said it was making the payment in recognition of the tragic turn of events in Ogoni land. "While we were prepared to go to court to clear our name, we believe the right way forward is to focus on the future for Ogoni people," Malcolm Brinded, a Shell director, said.

The settlement marks the end of a 14-year personal journey for Ken 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 pipeline.

Out of the $15.5m settlement, $5m will be used to set up a trust called Kiisi – meaning "progress" in the Ogoni Gokana language – to support educational and other initiatives in the Niger delta.

In the lawsuit, the families of the Ogoni nine alleged Shell conspired with the military government to capture and hang the men. Shell was also accused of a series of other alleged human rights violations, including working with the army to bring about killings and torture of Ogoni ­protesters.

The company was alleged to have provided the Nigerian army with vehicles, patrol boats and ammunition, and to have helped plan raids and terror campaigns against villages.

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 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 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 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 in the early 1990s under the leadership of Ken Saro-Wiwa and his organisation Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People. Mosop complained that the oil giant was responsible for devastating the ecosystem of the delta.

Human rights experts believe the settlement will have a substantial impact on other multi-national corporations. Anthony DiCaprio, a lead lawyer representing the Ogoni side, 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". Shell reiterated its view that the executions of the Ogoni nine had been "tragic events". It said that it had "attempted to persuade the government of the day to grant clemency".

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Shell Settlles Nigeria Killings Suit

9th June 09 - Al Jazeera

Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to settle a lawsuit accusing the firm of complicity in the executions of human rights activists in Nigeria for $15.5m, the families of those killed have said.

The settlement agreement came on Monday as the more than decade-long dispute was due to go to trial in a district court in New York.

The lawsuit accused Shell of human rights abuses, including violations in relation to the hangings in 1995 of Ken Saro-Wiwa, a well known rights activist, and eight other protesters by Nigeria's then-military government.

Shell, which still operates in Nigeria, said it agreed to settle the lawsuit in the hope of aiding the "process of reconciliation" but acknowledged no wrongdoing in the case.

"This gesture also acknowledges that, even though Shell had no part in the violence that took place, the plaintiffs and others have suffered,'' Malcolm Brinded, Shell's executive director for exploration and production, said in a statement on Monday.

Collusion Claims

The lawsuit, filed in a US district court in New York, alleged that Shell colluded with the then-government to silence environmental and human rights activists in the country's oil rich Niger Delta region.

The primary complaint focused on Shell's Nigerian subsidiary, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, alleging that in the 1990s Shell officials helped furnish Nigerian police with weapons, participated in security sweeps of the area and asked government troops to shoot villagers protesting against the construction of a pipeline that later leaked oil

It also said Shell helped the government capture and hang Saro-Wiwa and other activists on November 10, 1995.

Saro-Wiwa, leader of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People, led rallies against Shell, which he blamed for oil spills and gas fires in the region.

On Monday, his son, Ken Saro-Wiwa Jr, said that he felt his father "would be happy" with the decision despite no declaration of wrongdoing on Shell's part.

"The fact that they would have to settle is a victory for us," he said.

The $15.5m will support initiatives in education, skills development, agriculture, small enterprise development and adult literacy, Shell said. It will be governed by trustees who will be independent of the plaintiffs and defendants and responsible for delivering the projects.

Lawyers hailed the agreement as a rare and significant success in the field of international human rights and as a precedent for holding Shell and other oil giants responsible for activities in countries with repressive governments.

"We hope that this settlement provides another building block in the efforts to forge a legal system that holds violators accountable wherever they may be and prevents future violations," lawyers for the plaintiffs said in a joint statement.

Corporate accountability

Al Jazeera's Kristen Saloomey in New York says that while the plaintiffs felt the settlement sent the message that multinational companies could not act with impunity, some human rights groups were disappointed as they felt a trial would have provided more public disclosure of facts in the case

Jenny Green, a lawyer for the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York, who helped file the lawsuit in 1996, said that the agreement would send a message to Shell and other multinationals that operate in developing countries.

"You can't commit human rights violations as a part of doing business," she said.

"A corporation can't act with impunity. And we think there is accountability in this settlement."

The settlement is not the end of Shell's legal troubles, however.

Separate challenges are being mounted in New York and the Netherlands.

Elizabeth Bast, the international programme director for Friends of the Earth US, said Shell "will be dragged from the boardroom to the courthouse, time and again, until the company addresses the injustices at the root of the Niger Delta crisis and put an end to its environmental devastation".

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Shell settlement with Ogoni people stops short of full justice

10th June 09 - John Vidal, Guardian (UK)

Shell's decision to settle out of court with a group of Ogoni people rather than take them on in New York means a measure of justice has come to the Niger Delta. The sum of $15.5m (£9.6m) may be peanuts for the company and nothing can compensate the 500,000 Ogoni people for generations of devastating pollution, human rights abuses and persecution. But while Shell insists that the result is no admission of guilt, it nevertheless represents a triumph for an impoverished community over one of the richest companies in the world.

What it suggests is that Shell wants to bury the facts about what was happening on the Niger delta in the 1970s and 1980s when it was extracting tens of millions of barrels of oil a year from Ogoniland while allowing the people to slide into destitution as it was destroying their environment. The settlement stops the world knowing exactly what was the company's relationship with the national government and the military, and the extent of Shell's involvement in the human rights abuses that led to Ken Saro-Wiwa's execution. The Ogoni had assembled a formidable case and were being represented by some of the most best human rights lawyers in the world. It could have been intensely embarrassing for the company if it all had come out.

Shell said it had agreed to settle out of humanitarian interests, but everyone on the delta knows that real justice has not been done, and that the environmental abuses continue. The company continues to needlessly burn off vast amounts of gas. The air is still poisoned, children are still sick, there are few jobs, the creeks are polluted and the poverty is intense.

Moreover, the security situation on the delta is far worse than it was 12 years ago when the Ogoni case began. Then, the delta was politically volatile but the oil companies could work there more or less unimpeded and people felt reasonably safe. Today the whole region is awash with guns and the delta is one of the most dangerous places on earth.

In the last few months the Nigerian military have raided dozens of communities they believe are threatening the state and thousands of people have fled their villages. The kind of peaceful protest that the Ogoni led in the 1990s now seems quaint. Anyone who stands up for environmental justice or who challenges the oil companies, which provide the Nigerian state with 90% of their foreign earnings, is now in mortal danger.

But Shell's decision could backfire. The precedent of a Nigerian community suing a multinational oil company in a western court has been set. There are thousands more Ogoni who will now want to bring their case to the west to see justice done, as well as other Niger Delta tribes like the Ijaw, the Igbo, the Ibibio and the Itsekiri who also want justice. There have been more than 500 pollution cases against Shell in Nigeria, but few reach court and the company has been able to use the appeal system to delay those that do for many years.

Now the lesson is that justice and reparation can be obtained abroad. A Dutch court will soon hear a case brought against Shell by other Niger Delta villagers following a major oil spill years ago. Meanwhile, in Ecuador, Chevron is about to hear its fate in a massive pollution case that has been going on for nearly 10 years. It's quite possible the company will be fined more than $4bn.

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