[Corp. Watch] Big Oil on trial for its mafia-like behavior

[Corporation Watch]

[Editor's note: This year's CounterCorp Anti-Corporate Film Festival (www.countercorp.org 
) opens with two films about oil industry crimes and abuses, including  
in Nigeria.]


Oil Industry Braces for Trial on Rights Abuses

  By Jad Mouawad

(NY Times, May 22) -- Fourteen years after the execution of the  
Nigerian author and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa by Nigeria's former  
military regime, Royal Dutch Shell will appear before a federal court  
in New York to answer charges of crimes against humanity in connection  
with his death.

	The trial, scheduled to begin on Wednesday, will examine allegations  
that Shell sought the aid of the former Nigerian regime in silencing  
Saro-Wiwa, a vociferous critic, in addition to paying soldiers who  
carried out human rights abuses in the oil-rich but impoverished Niger  
Delta where it operated. Shell strongly denies the charges.

	But the trial is the latest in a series of cases aimed at some of the  
world's biggest oil companies, asserting misdeeds in developing  
countries where they were once seen as unassailable.

	Oil companies are being sued on charges of environmental damage,  
collusion with repressive governments and contributing to human rights  
abuses, among others.

	Chevron, for example, could face up to $27 billion in liability in  
Ecuador for pollution of the jungle. Exxon Mobil is being sued by  
Indonesian villagers from the province of Aceh who allege human rights  
violations committed by soldiers hired to guard a natural gas plant.

	And these legal challenges are just the latest tests for an industry  
increasingly hard pressed to find new sources of petroleum.

	The most prominent case of supposed company complicity -- the  
execution of Saro-Wiwa and eight other members of the Ogoni tribe --  
led to fierce protests against Shell, which was already under heavy  
criticism from environmentalists for its record in the Niger Delta.

	The event, which ignited worldwide condemnation of Nigeria, prompted  
changes in Shell's approach to community relations in Nigeria and  
elsewhere.

	While civilian rule has returned to Nigeria, violence in the Delta  
has escalated in recent years, fueled by poverty, corruption and  
graft. In the last week, there has been a new round of fighting  
between government forces and militant rebel groups, which have  
declared an "all-out war" in the region and threatened the operations  
of oil companies.

	The civil suit was brought by relatives of Saro-Wiwa and other  
victims of Nigeria's former military regime, who are taking advantage  
of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that gives foreign victims of human  
rights abuses a measure of access to American courts.

	The suit asserts that in the early 1990s, Shell became worried about  
Saro-Wiwa's campaign to protest the impact of oil production  
throughout the Niger Delta. The suit asserts that Shell feared his  
activities would disrupt its operations and tarnish its image abroad,  
and "sought to eliminate that threat, through a systematic campaign of  
human rights violations."

	Shell said the allegations are "false and without merit." In a  
statement, Stan Mays, a company spokesman, said: "Shell in no way  
encouraged or advocated any act of violence," and, in fact, "attempted  
to persuade that government to grant clemency."

	The case could have global repercussions for the oil industry, said  
Arvind Ganesan, the head of the business and human rights program at  
Human Rights Watch.

	In the last decade, oil companies have been under increasing pressure  
to comply with strict standards of behavior while operating in  
countries with poor human rights records and few democratic controls.

	"The lesson here is that these cases aren't going away," Ganesan  
said. "If a jury found Shell guilty, this would change the behavior of  
the industry pretty quickly."

	The lawsuit was filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights, a New  
York law firm specializing in human rights, on behalf of Saro-Wiwa's  
son and other plaintiffs who fled Nigeria's military regime, and did  
not trust they could sue Shell in Nigerian courts even after civilian  
rule returned in 1999.

	The current suit was brought under the U.S. Alien Tort Claims Act, an  
arcane law written in 1789 to fight piracy, which is increasingly  
being used for lawsuits asserting human rights violations that  
occurred overseas.

	The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6 to 3 in 2004 that foreigners could use  
American courts in limited cases, such as crimes against humanity or  
torture. While sovereign states cannot be sued, American courts have  
accepted that a wide variety of actors, including corporations, can be  
called to account.

	So far no corporation has been found guilty under the Alien Tort law,  
though human rights lawyers note that several cases are still moving  
through the court system.

	In 2004, Unocal, a California oil company accused of using slave  
labor in the construction of a pipeline in Burma during the 1990s,  
agreed to compensate villagers there. The terms of the settlement were  
not made public.

	Last year, Chevron was cleared of wrongdoing by a jury after being  
accused of complicity in the shooting of Nigerian villagers who  
occupied an offshore oil barge in 1998 to protest its environmental  
record and hiring practices.

	Shell's activities in the Niger Delta -- a region of mangroves and  
swamps roughly the size of Maryland, where most of Nigeria's oil is  
located -- have long been criticized by environmentalists.

	Shell drilled the country's first successful well in 1956, and has  
since dominated Nigeria's oil sector through decades of civil war,  
military rule, and authoritarian governments.

	In recent years, protests against government corruption have become  
more violent. The operations of Shell, in particular, have been come  
under attack from militant groups seeking a greater share of the  
country's oil wealth.

	For Ken Saro-Wiwa's son, who returned to Nigeria from exile in 1999,  
the trial could provide bittersweet vindication of his father's  
campaign.

	"My father always said that one day Shell would be on trial," said  
Ken Saro-Wiwa Jr., who works as an adviser to the government on  
community issues. "It's important for those involved in the conspiracy  
against my father to be held to account. It's a communal exorcism, if  
you like, for Shell to account and bear responsibility for what it did."

	The elder Saro-Wiwa, who founded the Movement for the Survival of the  
Ogoni Peoples in 1990, was one of the most vocal critics of Shell for  
the damage done to the Delta communities, including gas flaring and  
the destruction of mangroves to make way for pipelines.

	According to the lawsuit, a Shell official identified Saro-Wiwa as  
being "influential" in organizing the protests and sought the  
assistance of the Nigerian government to silence him.

	The company is also accused of paying soldiers who committed human  
rights abuses and providing them with transportation, including  
helicopters. During a military raid, one plaintiff, Karalolo Kogbara,  
was shot by Nigerian troops while she was speaking out against the  
destruction of crops bulldozed to build a pipeline.

	"We are not saying that Shell just did business in a bad place," said  
Jennie Greene, a lawyer with the Center for Constitutional Rights.  
"Shell was an actor here. Shell wasn't just standing by."

	In 1994, the elder Saro-Wiwa was arrested along with other Ogoni  
advocates and put on trial before a special military court, on charges  
that human rights groups and Western governments said were trumped up.

	Despite international pressure, Shell initially refused to intervene,  
saying at the time, "The company does not get involved in politics."

	The lawsuit charges that Shell bribed at least two crucial witnesses  
to change their testimony during the trial. It also asserts that  
Shell's manager in Nigeria at the time, Brian Anderson, met with Saro- 
Wiwa's brother (who is also a plaintiff in the suit) and tried to  
pressure the jailed activist to abandon his struggle in exchange for  
help in securing his release. The deal was reportedly refused.

	Shell's chief executive eventually faxed Gen. Sani Abacha, Nigeria's  
military ruler, a request for a pardon after Saro-Wiwa's appeal for  
clemency was denied. But by then it was too late: Saro-Wiwa and the  
other advocates were hanged on Nov. 10, 1995.

	Shell denies it sought to silence Saro-Wiwa. "Shell attempted to  
persuade that government to grant clemency; to our deep regret, that  
appeal -- and the appeals of many others -- went unheard," Shell said  
in its statement. "We were shocked and saddened when we heard the news."