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Amnesty International

DEMAND DIGNITYPetrol, Pollution + Poverty in the Niger Delta

Student Group Action : November 2009

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DEMAND DIGNITY: AMNESTYS NEW CAMPAIGN

Living in poverty means more than

simply lacking income or resources.

It means facing deprivation,

insecurity, powerlessness and

exclusion on a daily basis.

These are abuses of human rights.

They are not natural or inevitable;

they are the result ofdecisions

made by people in power.

Poverty is a human rights issue: the Demand Dignity campaign

aims to end the human rights violations that keep people poor.

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DEMAND DIGNITY: AMNESTYS NEW CAMPAIGN

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights includes the

following rights:

Right to adequate housing

Right to health care

Right to education

Right to clean water and sanitation

Right to participate in decisions that affect our lives

Right to security Right not to be discriminated against

Yet people living in poverty face abuses of these rights every day.

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DEMAND DIGNITY: AMNESTYS NEW CAMPAIGN

Amnesty will be working alongside communities, supporting

people living in poverty as they stand up for their rights.

Initially, the campaign will focus on three key issues:

CORPORATE ACCOUNTABILITY - companies responsibility

to respect human rights

SLUMS

MATERNAL HEALTH - the health of women during pregnancyand childbirth, and afterwards

This month the focus is on corporate accountability, and in particular the

oil industry in the Niger Delta.

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PETROL, POLLUTION AND POVERTY IN THE

NIGER DELTA

Shell is responsible for 80%

of oil and gas extraction in

the area. Its damaging

practices are stripping the

inhabitants of their human

rights and keeping them in

poverty.The effects of an oil spill which occurred in mid 2007, nearthe community of Goi, Ogoniland (Photo: 28 Jan 2008)

The Niger Delta has massive and very valuable oil deposits,

but the majority of its 31 million inhabitants live in poverty.

Rather than protect its people, the Nigerian Government has

abandoned them to the oil companies.

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FACTFILE ON THE NIGER DELTA

Location: Nigeria, West Africa

Population: 31 million

Area: Approx 70,000 km2

Ethnic groups: over 40,

including the Efik Eburutu, IbibioNation, Annang Nation, Oron

Nation, & Ogoni people

Languages: 250 dialects are

spoken

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THE IMPACT OF SHELLS OPERATIONS ON

HUMAN RIGHTS

Oil spills, gas flaring* and pollution are all having a

devastating impact on the land and rivers these

communities depend upon.

Local people are left to drink polluted water, eat contaminated

fish, farm on spoiled land, and breathe air that stinks of oil

and gas.

In August 2008, a Shell pipeline leaked more than 1,600

barrels of oil into local waterways at Bodo Creek.

Sadly this is just one of a series of shocking pollution

incidents which Shell and the Nigerian Government have not

responded to adequately.

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THE IMPACT OF SHELLS OPERATIONS ON

HUMAN RIGHTS

* What is gas flaring?

When oil is pumped out of the ground, the gas produced is

separated and, in Nigeria, most of it is burnt as waste.

This is extremely wasteful and environmentally damaging, and

there are concerns that it has a negative impact on human

health. It has been illegal in Nigeria since 1984, but Shell

continue to do it.

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THE IMPACT OF SHELLS OPERATIONS ON

HUMAN RIGHTS

Decades of pollution in the Niger Delta has led to serious human rights violations,driving the people of the region into poverty.

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THE IMPACT OF SHELLS OPERATIONS ON

HUMAN RIGHTS

We want the Federal Ministry of Environment and Shell

Petroleum Development Company in particular to come and put

a stop to this My people dont go to fishing any longer youcan see the devastating effects and this is our main source of

livelihood.

Representative of the Bodo community, after oil spill at Bodo,

Ogoniland, 2008

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WHICH HUMAN RIGHTS IS SHELL ABUSING?

Right to

clean

water

Right to an

adequate

standard ofliving

Right to earn a

living through

work Right to health +a healthyenvironment

Right

to food

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THE IMPACT OF SHELLS OPERATIONS ON

HUMAN RIGHTS

A local fisherman described the

devastation caused by oil spills:

If you want to go fishing, you

have to paddle for about four

hours through several rivers

before you can get to where youcan catch fish some of the

fishes we catch, when you open

the stomach, it smells of crude

oil.

Hundreds of thousands of people are affected, particularly the poorest

and those that rely on traditional livelihoods such as fishing and

agriculture.

A fisherman with his canoe in Goi, Ogoniland.

http://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_3/sites/impact.amnesty.org/files/PUBLIC/Regions/AFR/nigeria-niger-delta-03.jpg

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THE IMPACT OF SHELLS OPERATIONS ON

HUMAN RIGHTS

The impact of oil pollution in the

community of Ikot Ada Udo, Akwa

Ibom State (Photo: 30 Jan 2008)

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ACCESS TO INFORMATION

Communities are rarely given information about the impact of

Shells operations on their environment and human rights.

Amnesty is demanding that Shell disclose specificdocumentation about oil pollution in the Niger Delta.

We are also calling for Shell to assess the impact of their

practices on the human rights of the people of the Niger Delta,

and make this information available to them.

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ACCESS TO INFORMATION

Shell employee overlooks a leaking pipeline in Iwhrekan, Delta State, Nigeria (Photo: 25 Feb 2008)

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ACCESS TO JUSTICE

They lack knowledge about their rights

They have no access to information about the impact of Shells

operations on their human rights

They would have long and difficult journeys to the Federal High

Courts, which are located in state capitals

They cant afford the high costs involved (lawyers and court

fees, travel costs and, potentially, the cost of expert witnesses

and scientific evidence)

It is extremely difficult for the people of the Niger Delta to initiate

legal proceedings against Shell, for several reasons:

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ACCESS TO JUSTICE

In Nigeria getting justice from multinational corporations is a

Herculean task. In the long road to judicial justice against

multinational oil and gas corporations, companies employ all

manner of tactics to wear out poor community litigants. Companies

engage in delaying tactics to ensure that cases remain stagnant.

Worse still are situations where after having stood their ground and

gotten judgments in their favour, the company does not comply with

the judgement.

Prince Chima Williams, barrister and Head of Legal Resources at

Environmental Rights Action in Rivers State

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VIOLENCE IN THE NIGER DELTA

Poverty and pollution have sparked protests against Shell and

other oil companies, and some of these protests have been

violent.

Armed gangs have formed, and have been involved in sabotage,theft, property destruction, and kidnapping oil workers. Amnesty

condemns this violence.

The recent increase in confrontations between armed groups

and government security forces has negatively impacted on thepeople of the Niger Delta.

In June 2009, tens of thousands of people fled their homes to

avoid fighting between government forces and group known as

the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta.

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FIND OUT MORE

Video: Naomi McAuliffe, Amnesty's Dignity Campaign

Manager explains why we all need to contact Shell

Video: Shells damaging practices in the Niger Deltaare revealed

Video: French Amnesty activists taking action at a

Shell petrol station

http://www.protectthehuman.com/videos/petroleum-pollution-and-povertyhttp://www.protectthehuman.com/videos/petroleum-pollution-and-povertyhttp://www.protectthehuman.com/videos/welcome-to-shellhttp://www.protectthehuman.com/videos/welcome-to-shellhttp://www.protectthehuman.com/videos/make-shell-clean-uphttp://www.protectthehuman.com/videos/make-shell-clean-uphttp://www.protectthehuman.com/videos/make-shell-clean-uphttp://www.protectthehuman.com/videos/make-shell-clean-uphttp://www.protectthehuman.com/videos/welcome-to-shellhttp://www.protectthehuman.com/videos/welcome-to-shellhttp://www.protectthehuman.com/videos/petroleum-pollution-and-povertyhttp://www.protectthehuman.com/videos/petroleum-pollution-and-poverty

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FIND OUT MORE

Read the full Amnesty

report: Petroleum,

pollution and poverty in the

Niger Delta (pdf)

Read about the recent

webchat between Amnesty

activists and Shell staff

http://www.amnesty.org.uk/uploads/documents/doc_19492.pdfhttp://www.amnesty.org.uk/uploads/documents/doc_19492.pdfhttp://www.amnesty.org.uk/uploads/documents/doc_19492.pdfhttp://blog.protectthehuman.com/amnestyuk-vs-shelldotcom/http://blog.protectthehuman.com/amnestyuk-vs-shelldotcom/http://blog.protectthehuman.com/amnestyuk-vs-shelldotcom/http://blog.protectthehuman.com/amnestyuk-vs-shelldotcom/http://blog.protectthehuman.com/amnestyuk-vs-shelldotcom/http://blog.protectthehuman.com/amnestyuk-vs-shelldotcom/http://www.amnesty.org.uk/uploads/documents/doc_19492.pdfhttp://www.amnesty.org.uk/uploads/documents/doc_19492.pdfhttp://www.amnesty.org.uk/uploads/documents/doc_19492.pdf

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Take Action: Tell Shell to Come Clean

I WANT SHELL TO COME CLEAN

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.students.stedwards.edu/acadena/handprint1133.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.45things.com/2009_06_01_archive.php&usg=__5v9oyZr5d-jA1iAc1GHlm_NQgN0=&h=428&w=388&sz=46&hl=en&start=4&tbnid=lJwVJu9KtA7b_M:&tbnh=126&tbnw=114&prev=/images%3Fq%3Ddirty%2Bhandprint%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX

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Take Action: Dear Peter Vosser

Clean up the pollution Clean up its practices

Come clean on the information it

holds on pollution in the region but

hasnt made public

Make a dirty handprint postcard with a message for new ChiefExecutive of Shell, Peter Voser, to come clean on the NigerDelta:

Go to www.amnesty.org.uk/studentfor all the info you need toplan

this action including suggested text + where to send your postcard

and upload your photo

http://www.amnesty.org.uk/studenthttp://www.amnesty.org.uk/student

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TAKE ACTION: SHELL STATION STUNT

Take action at your local

Shell station to raise

awareness of the

company's human rightsabuses in the Niger Delta.

Go to www.amnesty.org.uk/student for all the info you need to plan

this action including how to order white decontamination suits,

flyers + postcards

http://www.amnesty.org.uk/studenthttp://www.amnesty.org.uk/student