Human Rights Watch
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Copyright © January 1999 by Human
Rights Watch.
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
ISBN: 156432-225-4
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number:
99-60123
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. SUMMARY
The Role and Responsibilities
of the International Oil Companies
The Oil Industry
and the Oil Producing Communities
Protest and Repression
in the Oil Producing Communities
The Role of Shell
in the Ogoni Crisis
Attempts to Import
Weapons
Threats to Community
Members
Oil Company Failure
to Monitor or Protest Abuses
Shell’s Internal
Review Since 1995
Conclusion
II. RECOMMENDATIONS
To the Nigerian
Government
To the International
Oil Companies Operating in Nigeria
To the International
Community
III. OIL AND NATURAL
GAS IN NIGERIA
Crude Oil
The Structure of
Oil Company Agreements with the Nigerian Government
Natural Gas
The Downstream Sector
IV. OIL WEALTH AND
THE NIGERIAN CONSTITUTION
State Creation
and Revenue Allocation
V. THE ENVIRONMENT
The Framework of
Nigerian Law on Oil and the Environment
The Impact of Oil
Operations on the Environment
Oil Spills and
Hydrocarbon Pollution
Infrastructure
Development
Gas Flaring
Compensation for
Land Expropriation
Compensation for
Oil Spills
Sabotage
The Niger Delta
Environmental Survey
VI. OIL COMPANIES
AND THE OIL PRODUCING COMMUNITIES
Minorities in the
Oil Producing Regions
Social and Economic
Conditions in the Oil Producing Communities Today
Oil Company Relations
with the Oil Producing Communities
Employment
Development Projects
The Effect of the
Oil Economy on Community Politics
The Warri Crisis
VII. SECURITY
Security Arrangements
for Oil Facilities
Special Task Forces
VIII. PROTEST AND
REPRESSION IN THE NIGER DELTA
Umuechem
The Ogoni Crisis
Attempts to Duplicate
the MOSOP Protests
Targeting of Community
Leaders and Environmental Whistle-blowers
Day-to-day Protest
and Repression in the Oil Producing Communities
Suppression of
Demands for Compensation:
Damages, Development
Projects, and Employment
Other Abuses Resulting
from Oil Company Security
Litigation
IX. THE ROLE AND
RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE INTERNATIONAL OIL COMPANIES
Corporate Responsibility
in Nigeria
The Role of Shell
in the Ogoni Crisis
Attempts to Import
Weapons
Threats to Communities
Oil Company Calls
for Security Force Assistance
Oil Company Failure
to Monitor and Protest Abuses
Shell’s Internal
Review Since 1995
XI. THE ROLE OF
THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY
The Commonwealth
The United Nations
and International Labour Organization
The African Commission
The European Union
and its Member States
The United States
Codes of Conduct
for Business
This report was written by Bronwen Manby, researcher in the Africa Division of Human Rights Watch, based on research in the Niger Delta in July 1997, subsequent correspondence with the major oil companies operating in the region, and information provided by Nigerian human rights and environmental activists. The report was edited by Peter Takirambudde, executive director of the Africa Division; Mike McClintock, deputy program director; and Wilder Tayler, general counsel. Elizabeth Thapliyal, Associate in the Africa Division, prepared the report for production.
Human Rights Watch would like to thank its NGO partners who contributed to the report by assisting our research and providing additional information. In particular, we wish to thank the committed and courageous activists of Environmental Rights Action, without whom the report could not have been written. We would also like to thank all those who agreed to meet with us and be interviewed for the report, especially the many residents of oil producing communities of the Niger Delta.