Background (letter to Shell CEO Jeroen van der Veer below)

On June 8th, Ogoni plaintiffs suing Shell for complicity in human rights abuses in Nigeria scored a major victory when they forced Shell to settle the case with a $15.5 million payment of compensation. It was a victory for the families of Ken Saro-Wiwa and other activists who were killed for their leadership in a nonviolent movement against Shell's environmental devastation of their homeland in the oil-rich Niger Delta.

One of the abuses these activists died struggling to end was "gas flaring"—burning off gas released by oil extraction—which sends plumes of toxic smoke into the air. Gas flaring endangers human health, harms local ecosystems, emits large amounts of greenhouse gases, wastes vast quantities of natural gas, and is against Nigerian law.

True justice will not be served as long as the people of Nigeria continue to suffer the terrible impact of Shell's operations. According to Shell, it would cost about 10% of last year's profits to end Shell's gas flaring in Nigeria once and for all. This is a small price to pay to end an abuse that Shell has been committing for decades.

$15.5 million bought Shell a settlement to one court case for events that happenned 14 years ago.  It in no way shape or form absolves them from responsibility for the ongoing social and environmental tragedy in the Niger Delta.  Help us demand that they do more today.

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