Published 11-03-05
Submitted by Amnesty International USA
"A decade after executions that horrified the world, the exploitation of oil in the Niger Delta continues to result in deprivation, injustice and violence," said Dr. William F. Schulz, Executive Director for Amnesty International USA (AIUSA). "Security forces are allowed to kill and raze communities with impunity, and civilians who escape such injustices often suffer the pollution that saps their health and renders their economic livelihood impossible. That Nigeria's federal government continues to turn a blind eye to its own people is unconscionable."
The report, Ten Years On: injustice and violence haunt the oil Delta, focuses on human rights violations committed this year at the Escravos oil terminal and in the community of Odioma, both on the Niger Delta coast:
"Chevron must commission an independent, impartial investigation into the company's role during the incidents at Escravos terminal," said Mila Rosenthal, Director of AIUSA's Business and Human Rights Program. "The company promised to ensure respect for human rights in its worldwide operations, but its actions in Nigeria tell a different story."
AI also demands that Shell investigate allegations of a security arrangement between a Shell Nigeria subcontractor and a criminal group in Odioma, and calls on the Nigerian federal government to conduct thorough and independent inquiries into allegations that security forces killed, injured and raped civilians and destroyed their property. The findings should be made public and those responsible for human rights violations brought justice.
Founded in London in 1961, Amnesty International is a Nobel Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with over 1.8 million members worldwide. Amnesty International undertakes research and action focused on preventing and ending grave abuses of the rights to physical and mental integrity, freedom of conscience and expression, and freedom from discrimination, within the context of its work to promote all human rights. Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) is the U.S. Section of Amnesty International.
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