Niger Delta faces human rights tragedy, Amnesty Abuja, 30 June-(ANA)- Amnesty International has called the situation in the Niger Delta a “human rights tragedy,” saying that the people of the area have seen their human rights abused by oil companies that their government cannot or will not hold to account.
“The Niger Delta provides a stark example of the lack of accountability of a government to its people, and of multinational companies’ almost total lack of accountability when it comes to the impact of their operations on human rights,” said Audrey Gaughran, Amnesty’s Head of Business and Human Rights.
Gaughran is a co-author of a major new report, Petroleum, Pollution and Poverty in the Niger Delta, released today at a press conference in Abuja.
The report examines oil spills, gas flaring, waste dumping and other environmental impacts of the oil industry.
The majority of the evidence on pollution and environment damage gathered by Amnesty International, and contained in its new report, relates to the operations of Shell, the main oil company operating on land in the Niger Delta.
“People living in the Niger Delta have to drink, cook with and wash in polluted water. They eat fish contaminated with oil and other toxins – if they are lucky enough to be able to still find fish,” Gaughran said. (ANA)
Global/Plastics Issue