Royal-Dutch Shell, Shell Nigeria, and a former head of the Nigerian operation settled with 10 individual plaintiffs, led by Ken Saro-Wiwa, Jr., whose father was tortured and executed, along with other Ogoni leaders when they protested the environmental and human destruction that Shell's operations were causing in the Niger Delta.
Approximately 27 million people live in the Niger Delta, and about 75 percent of those people rely on the land for their living, mostly by fishing and farming.
Shell released natural gas, a by-product of oil drilling, in huge flares, that spewed toxins into the air, the water, and the land. These toxins include benzene, which can cause convulsions, chromosomal damage, and birth defects. Although Shell was ordered to stop flaring by the Nigerian Federal HIgh Court, as of December, 2008, more than 100 "flare sites still operated in Nigeria.
Ken Saro-wiwa's father was the founding member of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP). When the group began to gain momentum, Shell stepped up its relationship with the military dictatorship in Nigeria. Activists were beaten, detained, maimed, and murdered. Money changed hands between Shell and the NIgerian forces.
In 1994, MOSOP believes that the government killed four Ogoni chiefs, and then promptly arrested and charged Saro-wiwa and others with the murders. Nine executions followed a sham trial.
Beginning in 1996, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), EarthRights International (ERI), Paul Hoffman of Schonbrun, DeSimone, Seplow, Harris & Hoffman and other human rights attorneys have brought a series of cases to hold Shell accountable for human rights violations in Nigeria, including summary execution, crimes against humanity, torture, inhuman treatment and arbitrary arrest and detention. The lawsuits are brought against Royal Dutch Shell and Brian Anderson, the head of its Nigerian operation.
The cases were brought under the Alien Tort Statute, a 1789 statute giving non-U.S. citizens the right to file suits in U.S. courts for international human rights violations, and the Torture Victim
Protection Act, which allows individuals to seek damages in the U.S. for torture or extrajudicial killing, regardless of where the violations take place.
the case against shell--human rights
Today, the individual plaintiffs won a $15.5 million settlement, which will, among other things, establish a Trust for the Ogoni people and compensate the plaintiffs for their losses. It does not preclude other lawsuits.
For more information, see
Wiwa v. Shell
and
the case against shell-environment
Ken Saro-wiwa won international awards for his activism.
Thanks to oregondem, David Lerner, Riptide Communications, Sierra Club, Center for Constitutional Rights, EarthRights International, and others for information and for fighting for what's right, and of course, the plaintiffs and the Ogoni people.
Here's a video summary.
Update
Looks like a great addition here, a movie from seattledoglover.
sweet crude