Amnesty International and the Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development says Shell’s claims of cleaning up multiple oil spills in the Nigeria’s Niger delta region are false.
AI Business and Human Rights Researcher, Mark Dummett, who presented the report on Tuesday in Abuja, said Shell had a responsibility to ensure that its actions did not cause or contribute to human rights violations
The report titled : “Clean it up: Shell’s alleged false claims about oil spills response” was published to mark the 20th anniversary of the 1995 execution of environmental activist and writer, Ken Saro-Wiwa, documents the failure of the government to regulate the oil industry as well as the inability of its watchdog, the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency to police the oil industry effectively.
The report says one Ogoniland area still is blighted though Shell said it was cleaned up 40 years ago and again after a 2011 UN investigation found massive contamination.
Amnesty says Shell Nigeria does not use the same standards as its European parent company. It also accuses Nigeria’s government, the majority owner in Shell Nigeria, of an “almost complete failure” to regulate the industry and protect people’s rights.
Meanwhile Shell Nigeria has rejected the findings and says it is “committed to cleaning up all spills” including in Ogoniland, where community protests forced it out in1993.
She’ll in a statement said that without access to the full report it would be difficult to respond to the AI claims.
This is even as the statement added that it is “committed to cleaning up all spills from its facilities, irrespective of cause”.
-NEW HORIZON
