The articles in the two urls below reflect the extent to which firms are increasingly being held accountable for their actions overseas and how the U.S. Alien Tort Claims Act of 1789 is the tool activists are using to achieve their goals:
“The current suit was brought under the Alien Tort Claims Act, an arcane law written in 1789 to fight piracy, which is increasingly being used for lawsuits asserting human rights violations that occurred overseas. The Supreme Court ruled 6 to 3 in 2004 that foreigners could use American courts in limited cases, like crimes against humanity or torture. So far no corporation has been found guilty under the alien tort law, though human rights lawyers note that several cases are still moving through the court system.”
The articles here focus on Shell’s past work in Nigeria—it was the first company to drill for oil there in 1956. They highlight the firm’s alleged role in the death of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight of his colleagues by the Nigerian government in 1995—litigation that has been ongoing since the activist’s death and, 14 years later, continues to haunt Shell:
“The trial … will examine allegations that Shell sought the aid of the former Nigerian regime in silencing Mr. Saro-Wiwa, a vociferous critic, in addition to paying soldiers who carried out human rights abuses in the oil-rich but impoverished Niger Delta where it operated. Shell strongly denies the charges.”
The articles also, however, detail allegations in many countries against numerous other multi-national firms (often extraction companies). These firms have achieved significant wealth mining the natural resources of countries whose local populations feel they were not fairly compensated:
“In December, Chevron, Shell's rival oil multinational, was cleared in a separate case alleging complicity in human rights violations in Nigeria. There are also wide-ranging claims against multinationals in industries including banking and pharmaceuticals over alleged abuses in apartheid South Africa. … There have been cases France, the Netherlands and Ecuador while in England thousands of Ivory Coast nationals are suing Trafigura, the oil trading company, over waste dumped by a subcontractor that allegedly made them ill.”
Thinking about this issue for a number of years, now, there is no easy answer to the situation firms face when operating in countries with corrupt governments that are indifferent to the suffering of their local populations. For-profit firms are not substitutes for elected governments; they are neither diplomats, nor politicians. Having said this, the body of litigation that is being waged against these firms and the nature of the events that prompted it, indicate that there is much more that these firms could have done to minimize their exposure to risk.
On June 8, 2009, Shell agreed to settle the case with a payment of $15.5m, while continuing to deny that it had anything to do with Ken Saro-Wiwa’s death (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/09/business/global/09shell.html).
Take care
David
Bill Werther & David Chandler
Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility
© Sage Publications, 2006
Oil industry braces for rights abuses trial Shell to answer charges in connection with the death of Nigerian activist
By Jad MouawadThe New York Times
1327 words
23 May 2009
1
Old law exhumed by rights fighters; A stream of litigation targeting companies has opened up thanks to the renaissance of a 220 year old statute, writes Michael Peel
By Michael Peel
1485 words
26 May 2009
London Ed1
14
