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UN Report Whitewashes Mass Murder, Ecocide by Shell Oil and
For Black Agenda Radio - 28.08.2010 09:42
"The United Nations has attempted to facilitate a corporate-government cover-up of monumental dimensions."
UN Report Whitewashes Mass Murder, Ecocide by Shell Oil and Nigerian Government
A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford
"The United Nations has attempted to facilitate a corporate-government cover-up of monumental dimensions."
In July of last year, Amnesty International released a report, documenting the vast environmental and human rights degradations imposed on the people of the Niger River Delta by 50 years of oil exploration and production. Amnesty International sent a letter to Peter Voser, the newly appointed CEO of Royal Dutch Shell, the dominant company in the Delta oil fields, asking him to "come clean" on the "failures and poor practice" of both Shell and the Nigerian government. A little over a year later, Royal Dutch Shell and the Nigerian government have presented their answer, in the form of a monstrous whitewash produced in collusion with an agency of the United Nations.
The United Nations Environmental Program study, which was paid for by Shell oil, rewrites history to blame 90 percent of the region's pollution on spills caused by local people, tapping into oil pipelines and from sabotage by guerilla groups. The United Nations agency admits that it only studied 300 petroleum spill sites on a list given to it by Shell oil, and vouched for by Shell's partners in the Nigerian government. The true scope of Niger River Delta pollution is catastrophic, with the equivalent of 9 to 13 million barrels of oil fouling the waterways, farmlands and mangrove forests of Africa's largest wetland. That's at least twice as much oil as escaped in the recent Gulf of Mexico disaster, thus ranking Nigeria and Shell as the number one oil polluters in the world. Now the two super-polluters try to blame the people for their own half-century of crimes.
The UN agency is now backtracking, claiming its study is not yet done and there will be no report until early next year. The figures used in the study, the UN says, are the responsibility of the Nigerian government and Shell oil. If that is the case, then the study has no credibility whatsoever.
"The two super-polluters try to blame the people for their own half-century of crimes."
Twenty-seven years ago, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, itself, noted the "slow poisoning of the waters...and the destruction of vegetation and agricultural land by oil spills which occur during petroleum operations." The 1983 report declared that, "since the inception of the oil industry in Nigeria, more than twenty-five years ago, there has been no concerned and effective effort on the part of the government, let alone the oil operators, to control environmental problems associated with the industry." Thus, 27 years ago, the oil companies and the government had already been committing environmental crimes against the people of the Niger River Delta for a quarter of a century. It is commonly accepted that oil tapping by local people and guerilla sabotage are relatively recent phenomena.
Shell Oil and the Nigerian government have no shame. Delta residents fear the UN report will be used as an excuse for stepped up Nigerian government military operations in the region. There is also good reason to worry that the United States might seize on the UN report to add an environmental justification for its expanding military activities in West Africa. The United Nations, once the hope of the planet, has in this instance attempted to facilitate a corporate-government cover-up of monumental dimensions. But the evidence cannot be hidden. It oozes from every nook and cranny of the Niger River Delta. And the people know how it got there.
For Black Agenda Radio, I'm Glen Ford. On the web, go to www.BlackAgendaReport.com.
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| Read more about: vrijheid, repressie & mensenrechten | | supplements | | UN must not use flawed data on cause of Niger | mgriks(at)gmail.com - 30.08.2010 00:36
from  http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/un-must-not-use-flawed-data-cause-nigeria-oil-spills-2010-08-24
UN must not use flawed data on cause of Nigeria oil spills
An Amnesty International report criticised the oil spill investigation system in the Niger Delta
An Amnesty International report criticised the oil spill investigation system in the Niger Delta
© Kadir van Lohuizen/NOOR
24 August 2010
Amnesty International has challenged the credibility of data cited by a senior UN official investigating oil-impacted sites in Ogoniland in the Niger Delta, Nigeria.
A United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) official is reported to have said that 90 per cent of oil spills in Ogoniland were due to sabotage and criminal activity, and just 10 per cent due to equipment failure and negligence by companies such as Shell.
Amnesty International has challenged UNEP’s reliance on these figures, which were produced by Nigerian regulatory agencies that are known to depend heavily on the oil companies themselves when it comes to spill investigations.
“Relying on these figures would be a serious misjudgement, with potentially significant ramifications for those living in the Niger Delta,” said Audrey Gaughran, Director of Amnesty International’s Global Thematic Issues Program. “UNEP must be aware that the figures have been strongly challenged for years by environmental groups and communities. They are totally lacking in credibility.”
“The people of the Niger Delta have been lied to and denied justice for decades. The issue of oil spill causation is sensitive. If UNEP is going to comment on the cause of oil spills it should do so only on the basis of hard and credible evidence, not figures that are a source of conflict.”
In June 2009 an Amnesty International report on the human rights impacts of oil pollution concluded that the oil spill investigation system in the Niger Delta was totally lacking in independence, and was inadequate to determine the proportion of oil spills caused by sabotage, as opposed to equipment failure. Amnesty International found that in many cases oil companies have significant influence on determining the cause of a spill. The report documents examples of cases where Shell claimed the cause of a spill was sabotage, but the claim was subsequently questioned by other investigations or the courts.
Amnesty International has called for independent oversight of the oil industry in the Niger Delta, including disclosure of all relevant information on the causes of oil pollution.
Between 1989 and 1994 Shell itself estimated that only 28 percent of oil spilt in the Niger Delta was caused by sabotage. In 2007 Shell's estimate had risen to 70 per cent. The figure now given by Shell has increased to more than 90 per cent. Amnesty International has repeatedly asked Shell to produce evidence to support these figures. Shell has been unable to do so.
“While sabotage and vandalism are serious problems, there is no evidence to support the figures offered by oil companies and the Nigerian government agencies,” said Audrey Gaughran.
Read More
Nigeria: Petroleum, Pollution and Poverty in the Niger Delta (Report, 30 June 2009)
 Website: http://www.ourmediaindymedia.blogspot.com
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