Victory Settlement: SHELL FORCED TO SETTLE WIWA CASE OUT OF COURT

New York/Amsterdam/Brussels- After legal battles lasting nearly fourteen
years, oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has been forced to pay a $15.5 million
out-of-court settlement. Plaintiffs from the Ogoni region of the Niger
Delta have successfully held Shell accountable for complicity in human
rights atrocities committed against the Ogoni people in the 1990s,
including the execution of writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa. The legal
action is one of the few cases brought under the U.S. Alien Tort Statute
that have been resolved in favor of the plaintiffs. The settlement
includes establishment of a $5 million trust to benefit local communities
in Ogoni.

“We congratulate the plaintiffs on their victory. Let there be no doubt
that Shell has emerged guilty. With this settlement, Shell is seeking to
keep the overwhelming evidence of its crimes away from the scrutiny of a
jury trial,” said Paul de Clerck from Friends of the Earth International,
“Shell could not stand the damage of bad publicity around this human
rights case. Global campaigners have helped to highlight Shell’s abuses
and we share in this historic victory.”

“Shell is guilty. Despite this victory, justice will not be served in
Ogoni and throughout the Delta until the gas flares are put out, the
spills cleaned up, and the military stops protecting the oil companies and
starts serving the people,” said Steve Kretzmann, Executive Director of
Oil Change International. “This issue will not be solved until these
legitimate grievances of the community are addressed.”

“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,” said Han Shan, ShellGuilty Campaign Coordinator
for Oil Change International.

The next phase of the struggle continues with another case with an Ogoni
plaintiff pending in the New York District Court, and a further legal
action in The Hague, Netherlands, where Royal Dutch Shell is
headquartered. The company faces a legal action there for repeated oil
spills, brought by residents of the Niger Delta, with support from Friends
of the Earth Netherlands and Friends of the Earth Nigeria.

“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 Anne
van Schaik from Friends of the Earth Netherlands. “Communities, human
rights lawyers and activists will continue to demand justice with the same
determination and hope shown by Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Ogoni people.”