Shell Oil Suppresses Documentary on Human and Environmental Rights Abuses in Nigeria

The trial charging multinational oil giant Royal Dutch Shell with conspiracy to commit human rights abuses was to have started this week in the United States, after 13 years of delays. However, the long-awaited for justice has met yet another postponement.

This eight minute documentary tells of the struggle of the Ogoni people of Nigeria who protested the exploitation of the fertile land and brutal treatment of its people under the hands of a military regime. Leaders of the protests were hunted out, killed, or tried in a kangaroo court. While Shell itself did not conduct the human rights crimes, prosecutors claim that the oil giant did hire the Nigerian military, known for its brutality, to eliminate "the problem" of these protests.

This mini-documentary was produced by Rikshaw Films for EarthRights International (ERI) & the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), the plaintiffs’ co-counsel in the case. For more information, go to the wiwavsshell website.