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That's the typical American disease - assuming the rest of the world is either scary or just like Mainstreet USA.
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Serendipitously hit the streets 2 days after my previous post. Goes to show that those who wish to point out anothers failings have dirty washing of their own.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009 - 11:01
AFP News Briefs List
Shell pays Nigeria rights victims $15.5 mln by Sebastian Smith
Royal Dutch Shell agreed Monday to a 15.5 million dollar payout to settle a lawsuit alleging complicity in murder, torture and other abuses by Nigeria's former military government.
"Today, plaintiffs and defendants reached a settlement in the human rights cases brought against Royal Dutch Petroleum Company," lawyers for the plaintiffs said.
"We want to express our satisfaction that these cases have provided the plaintiffs with substantial compensation for their claims."
The settlement brought to an end a more than decade-long battle by relatives of Nigerian writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and others executed in 1995 in what plaintiffs said was a campaign of repression backed by Shell.
Saro-Wiwa led a non-violent protest against environmental destruction and abuses against the Ogoni people in the Niger Delta. He was hanged along with other activists after trial in a military court.
Human rights lawyers hailed the agreement in New York as a precedent for holding Shell and other oil giants responsible for activities in countries with repressive governments.
Shell denies all accusations, but the settlement will spare the oil giant from the potential embarrassment of having to defend itself in court.
"Shell has always maintained the allegations were false," Malcolm Brinded, executive director for exploration and production, said in a statement.
"This gesture also acknowledges that, even though Shell had no part in the violence that took place, the plaintiffs and others have suffered."
Part of the money will go to the plaintiffs, part to a trust to benefit the Ogoni, and some to pay the costs of litigation.
Shell highlighted what it called a "humanitarian gesture" to help the Ogoni.
"While we were prepared to go to court to clear our name, we believe the right way forward is to focus on the future for Ogoni people," Brinded said. "We believe this settlement will assist the process of reconciliation and peace in Ogoni land, which is our primary concern."*
The Nigerian plaintiffs, represented by US human rights lawyers, brought the suit under the little used Alien Tort Claims Act, a 1789 US law occasionally dusted off for use against multinational corporations' activities in other countries.
The case -- seen as a landmark in the human rights legal field -- had been due to go to trial May 27 but was repeatedly delayed in the run-up to Monday's announcement of a settlement.
Marco Simons, one of the lawyers representing the plaintiffs, described the agreement as a "very significant milestone."
While the sum of 15.5 million dollars was dwarfed by Shell's budget, it was high enough to make companies dealing with violent governments take notice.
"Shell (will now) think that every time that somebody is injured by soldiers on one of their projects where they are providing support and assistance and encouragement, that each one of those incidents is a million dollar incident," Simons told AFP.
"For Shell globally that may not be significant, but if you are talking about the operating cost for that project that is a substantial sum."
In their joint statement lawyers for the plaintiffs said the settlement was a rare and important success in the field of international human rights.
"We hope that this settlement provides another building block in the efforts to forge a legal system that holds violators accountable wherever they may be and prevents future violations," they said.
The settlement is not the end of Shell's legal troubles. Separate challenges are being mounted in New York by an Ogoni and by environmental activists in The Netherlands.
"Shell will be dragged from the boardroom to the courthouse, time and again, until the company addresses the injustices at the root of the Niger Delta crisis and put an end to its environmental devastation," said Elizabeth Bast, International Program Director for Friends of the Earth US.
Han Shan, at Oil Change International, said: "This case should be a wake up call to multinational corporations that they will be held accountable for violations of international law, no matter where they occur."
* Management speak translation - We are as guilty as sin but prefer not to have what we grow under our rock exposed to either daylight or microscopic examination.
Copied from another thread: more suited to this one!
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