Environmental Rights Action, Friends of the Earth Nigeria

A five-member team led by Mr. Nnimmo Bassey visited the displaced people of Gbaramatu Kingdom, currently camped in a hospital complex in Ogbeh Ijoh, a community close to Aladja town in Delta State. The visit was undertaken to see the situation of the displaced people as well as provide basic relief items to augment their needs. Most importantly, the visit served as a symbolic gesture to show that the Gbaramatu people are not alone in their ordeal. The people of Gbaramatu kingdom had fled their homes in the wake of the May 2009 bombardment of their communities by the Nigerian Federal Government troops. The military bombardment comprising aerial and sea raids was undertaken according to the Nigerian government for the purpose of dislodging and containing militants’ activities at Camp 5, situated close to Gbaramatu kingdom.

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The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth, Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has described the outcome of the landmark suit instituted by Ken Saro Wiwa Jnr and other Ogonis accusing Shell of complicity in the execution of author and human rights activist Ken Saro-Wiwa  and other Ogoni leaders in 1995, among other human rights abuses, as a significant milestone in the search for justice in the bloody oil fields of the Niger Delta.

After legal twist and turns lasting nearly fourteen years, Shell has been forced to pay an out-of-court settlement put at $15.5 million to the Ogoni plaintiffs who have struggled to hold the company accountable for complicity in atrocities committed against the Ogoni people in the 1990s, including the execution of Saro-Wiwa.

The plaintiffs had in a suit instituted at a New York court, alleged Shell financed, armed, and colluded with the Nigerian military forces during the Sani Abacha years that used deadly force and conducted massive, brutal raids against the Ogoni people in the Niger Delta.

Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) has several oil facilities located in Okpoama. An Ijaw community located in Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, it has several satellite settlements and fish camps around the fringes of the Atlantic Ocean. Following the report of a recent oil spill that impacted on the community and its fishing camps, ERA’s field monitors visited the community on May 28, 2009.

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Etieama is an Ijaw community situated in Nembe Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. It is about 35 minutes by speedboat from Ogbia town. The community is host to Nigeria Agip Oil Company(NAOC) oil facility. ERA’s field monitors visited the community on May 22, 2009 following the report of an oil spillage in the community. Community folks said Agip does not have a culture of maintaining their pipeline that has been laid in the community since 1972. Consequently, the community has experienced three incidents of oil spillage in 1995, 2000 and 2009. The spillage in 2000 resulted in the death of some vibrant youths of the community employed to assist with clamping of the rptured pipeline. The current spill is yet to be cleaned up.

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An Alternative Annual Report

Chevron's 2008 annual report is a glossy celebration of the company's most profitable year in its history.

What Chevron's annual report does not tell its shareholders is the true cost paid for those financial returns, or the global movement gaining voice and strength against Chevron's abuses.

Thus, we, the communities and their allies who bear the consequences of Chevron's operations, have prepared an alternative annual report of Chevron entitled "The True Cost of Chevron."

Never before has one report brought together the information, stories, and struggles of communities from Angola, Burma, Canada, Chad, Cameroon, Ecuador, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, the Philippines and across the United States directly impacted by, and in struggle against, Chevron's operations.

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Food Sovereignty - A New Model For Human Rights

On May 4th, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter, highlighted the unique role of the UN Commission of Sustainable Development (CSD) on the current discussions about the future of agricultural development. His statements were made during a presentation at the 17th session of the COmmission, which is focused on Agriculture, Rural Development, Land, Drought, Desertification and Africa.

De Schutter stated that in order for agricultural development to be sustainable, a focus on human rights is essential, and for that reason it is necessary to move towards a model in which the right to adequate food is a human right. This is what the Universal Declaration of Human Rights establishes, as well as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights...

 Get the full statement here

 

The alleged approval by the Federal Government for the Donald DanforthPlant Science Centre, United States, to conduct field-testing of a genetically modified cassava christened “Super Cassava” in Nigeria can be likened to trading away our food future to modern colonialists that hide under the cover of agricultural biotechnology, and must be halted immediately, the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth, Nigeria and over 30 other civil society groups in Nigeria have said.

ERA/FoEN’s position is premised on the recently reported approval of the National Biosafety Committee (NBC) for the National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI) Umudike to go ahead with plans to conduct “contained” field trials of genetically-modified cassava on the banks of the Qua Iboe River, Abia State. The NBC has no power to grant this kind of approval. Details of the approval was revealed at the annual meeting of the American Society for the Advancement of Science, held in Chicago, U.S.A on February 13, 2009, where it was announced that Nigeria’s NBC had given the Danforth Centre approval to carry out field trials for GM cassava in collaboration with NRCRI.

Okoroba, Bayelsa State: AGIP spill pollutes creeks, community forests and destroys community livelihoods. A resulting fire is right now moving towards the community. Click here to see pictures from visits to the affected areas.

Full report coming soon.

LOCATION: Ugborodo community, Delta State, Nigeria

HIGHLIGHTS: 

• JTF Forces in collaboration with Chevron fire on peaceful protesters 
• Several community members sustain gunshot wounds including women and children

INTRODUCTION
Aruntan-Ugborodo is an Itsekiri community of Delta state, Nigeria. The people are predominantly fishermen and petty traders. It is the closest community to a Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL) Tank farm in the area.

Ugborodo is made up of several small communities that includes Aruntan, Madanwo and  Ijala. The community is reached in 90 minutes by speedboat ride from Warri.

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