Is Chevron guilty of human rights violations?
A trial currently underway in San Francisco is attempting to answer this question. According to plaintiff Larry Bowoto, 10 years ago a peaceful protest on Chevron’s Parabe drilling platform resulted in the deaths of two non-violent protestors, an injury to Bowoto, and the torture of other protestors.
Witnesses for the plaintiff in the trial, which began Oct. 29, will testify that Chevron paid and supervised the Nigerian military, which shot, tortured, and killed protestors during the demonstration in 1998. Bowoto and more than 100 members of the local Ilage fishing communities went to the platform to protest the environmental damage and economic disruption they claimed Chevron’s activities had brought to their homes in the Niger Delta.
The prosecution will attempt to prove that Chevron paid members of the notorious Nigerian military and “kill and go” mobile police and ferried them to the platform in Chevron-leased helicopters, with Chevron personnel supervising the operation.
All of this information comes from EarthRights International, a human rights group that is representing Bowoto in the trial. Not surprisingly, the release on Chevron’s website paints a slightly different picture. Chevron refers to the “peaceful protest” as a “hostage-taking incident” and maintains that its platform workers, working for Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL), were threatened with violence and feared for their lives.
“More than 100 CNL workers and contractors were held for ransom and threatened with acts of violence,” the company states. “Now the hostage-takers are suing Chevron, claming that CNL should not have reported the matter to Nigerian law enforcement officials and that the Nigerian authorities used excessive force in rescuing the workers.”
A statement from Chevron’s Vice President and General Counsel Charles A. James reads, “… workers should have the right to go to work without being taken hostage, and holding innocent people for ransom should not be rewarded through a lawsuit in the US.”
The report goes on to state that Bowoto and other citizens threatened CNL with violence and sea piracy if the company did not pay them money and give them jobs. Weeks later they seized the platform, an adjacent barge, and a tugboat, holding CNL employees and contractors hostage and demanding money and other considerations. CNL tried to negotiate without success.
While eyewitnesses for the plaintiffs will argue that the situation turned ugly without help from the protestors, Chevron’s eyewitnesses relate that the hostage-takers poured diesel fuel on the barge and threatened to set it on fire. At this point CNL brought in the Nigerian Navy. During the rescue, shots were fired, no doubt leading to Bowoto’s injury and the resulting deaths. However, the Ilage still managed to force seven of the workers to a village, where they were held for three more days before their release was secured.
It will be interesting to learn the results of this trial. Will the courts decide that innocent civilians are being bullied by Big Bad Oil, or will they determine that the more successful a company is, the more likely it is to be sued by opportunists? Watch this space.
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November 6th, 2008 at 10:48 am
The facts are in dispute. Regardless! If a suit is to be filed it should be against the Nigerian military. Otherwise, if a U.S. soldier got involved in a similar incident, the suit would have to be forced against the U.S. taxpayer. Maybe put him in jail? Or kill him? Stupid!
November 6th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
How many non-Nigerian workers were killed while working in the Delta each of the last 5 years? Was this incident the only known act of alleged violence or have there been many?
This certainly would influence Chevron’s decision making at the time…
November 6th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
In a trial both parties will exaggerate their positions in order to get a favorable ruling. Having lived & worked in Nigeria for 5 years (1998 - 2003), if I had to believe which account of events was closer to the truth (Chevron or EarthRights/Bowoto) then I would have to side with Chevron. The reason is with ‘local fishermen’ boarding all the offshore installations under a so-called ‘peaceful demonstration’ after the history of demanding money & jobs, Chevron would have no other recourse than to protect it’s workers. And that means the government, thus police or military as Chevron operates on behalf of the Nigeria state oil company, and cannot send in security or other types of personnel. One can have separate discussions around poverty, inequality, corruption, etc, etc, but Chevron should not be held at fault for protecting their workers who are operating under difficult & threatening situations to provide us with energy.
November 8th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
I worked in Nigeria for 3 years 2002-2005 and had responsibility for several offshore drilling rigs over the period. On two occasions rigs were taken over by militants under the guise of a strike, one time for 2 weeks! Every person on the rig was under threat of severe violence if they did not tow the line. The helideck was inaccessible and severe violence was threatened against workers if any attempt was made to effect a rescue. Some of those involved have never been able to work offshore again due to the trauma.
Eventually it was resolved at the highest level in the Nigerian Government.
I’ve got no sympathy for Bowoto who is almost certainly one of the thugs, and as for EarthRights… what about the right of workers to earn a living and care for their families and Chevron to conduct their business?
Bowoto and ER are only targeting Chevron because to target the military or the Nigerian Government would get them killed!