Corporate Responsibility and Human Rights Violations in
Nigeria’s Oil Producing Communities
Human Rights Watch
New York · Washington · London · Brussels
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
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The staff includes Kenneth Roth, executive director; Michele Alexander, development director; Reed Brody, advocacy director; Carroll Bogert, communications director;Cynthia Brown,program director; Barbara Guglielmo, finance and administration director; Jeri Laber special advisor; Lotte Leicht, Brussels office director; Patrick Minges, publications director; Susan Osnos, associate director; Jemera Rone, counsel; Wilder Tayler, general counsel; and Joanna Weschler, United Nations representative. Jonathan Fanton is the chair of the board. Robert L. Bernstein is the founding chair.
The regional directors of Human Rights Watch are Peter Takirambudde, Africa; José Miguel Vivanco, Americas; Sidney Jones, Asia; Holly Cartner, Europe and Central Asia; and Hanny Megally, Middle East and North Africa. The thematic division directors are Joost R. Hiltermann, arms; Lois Whitman, children’s; and Regan Ralph, women’s.
The members of the board of directors are Jonathan Fanton, chair; Lisa Anderson, Robert L. Bernstein, William Carmichael, Dorothy Cullman, Gina Despres, Irene Diamond, Adrian W. DeWind, Fiona Druckenmiller, Edith Everett, James C. Goodale, Vartan Gregorian, Alice H. Henkin, Stephen L. Kass, Marina Pinto Kaufman, Bruce Klatsky, Alexander MacGregor, Josh Mailman, Samuel K. Murumba, Andrew Nathan, Jane Olson, Peter Osnos, Kathleen Peratis, Bruce Rabb, Sigrid Rausing, Anita Roddick, Orville Schell, Sid Sheinberg, Gary G. Sick, Malcolm Smith, Domna Stanton, and Maya Wiley. Robert L. Bernstein is the founding chair of Human Rights Watch.
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.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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
Oil Company Failure to Monitor or Protest Abuses
Shell’s Internal Review Since 1995
To the International Oil Companies Operating in Nigeria
To the International Community
III. OIL AND NATURAL GAS IN NIGERIA
The Structure of Oil Company Agreements with the Nigerian Government
IV. OIL WEALTH AND THE NIGERIAN CONSTITUTION
State Creation and Revenue Allocation
The Framework of Nigerian Law on Oil and the Environment
The Impact of Oil Operations on the Environment
Oil Spills and Hydrocarbon Pollution
Compensation for Land Expropriation
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
The Effect of the Oil Economy on Community Politics
Security Arrangements for Oil Facilities
VIII. PROTEST AND REPRESSION IN THE NIGER DELTA
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
IX. THE ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES
OF THE INTERNATIONAL OIL COMPANIES
Corporate Responsibility in Nigeria
The Role of Shell in the Ogoni Crisis
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 United Nations and International Labour Organization
The European Union and its Member States