Group 48 Newsletter - August 2012

7/31/2019 Group 48 Newsletter - August 2012

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Amnesty International USA Group 48

Newsletter 08.12

1 Texas On Verge o Executing

Mentally Disabled Man

2 Urge US Government

Leaders to Support the UN

Arms Trade Treaty

4 IRAQ: Urgent Action - Iraq

Intends To Execute 196

Prisoners

5 TAJIKISTAN: Urgent Action

- "Murder Suspect" Tortured

To Coness

7 CHINA: Urgent Action -

Chinese Housing Activists’

Sentences Upheld

9 NIGERIA: Oil spill

investigations ‘a asco’ in

the Niger Delta

Texas On Verge of Executing Mentally Disabled Man August 3, 2012

Amnesty International USA today

called on exas to reverse its “utterly

shameul” decision to go orward on

uesday with the execution o Marvin

Wilson, who has an IQ o 61. I exas

won’t commute the death sentence, then

the U.S. Supreme Court must step in

to stop exas rom deying its ban on

executing mentally disabled prisoners.

“exas seems to think it can buck even

the Supreme Court,” said Laura Moye,

director o Amnesty International’s

Death Penalty Abolition Campaign.

“Te Supreme Court must hear this

case, i exas reuses to commute the

sentence.”

Wilson, 54, who is Arican American, is

due to be put to death by lethal injec-

tion this coming uesday or a murder

committed in 1992. A clinical neuro-

psychologist has concluded that he has

“mental retardation.” According to his

most recent test, Wilson has an IQ o

61 (most states bar executions or those

with IQs at 70 or below).

“Tat puts Wilson below the rst per-

centile o human intelligence, and he’s

in an even lower percentile or adaptive

unctioning,” said Moye. “It’s utterly

shameul or exas to be considering anexecution in this case.”

A decade ago, in Atkins v. Virginia, the

Supreme Court prohibited the execu-

tion o oenders with “mental retarda-

tion” while leaving it up to the indi-

vidual states as to how to comply with

the ruling.

Beore the Atkins ruling, exas ex-

ecuted more inmates diagnosed with“mental retardation” than any other state

A decade later, its legislature has yet to

enact a law to comply with Atkins, and

it appears that “temporary” guidelines

developed by the exas Court o Crimi-

nal Appeals (CCA) in 2004 are letting

the state execute oenders who should

be exempted rom this punishment

under the Constitution.

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NewsLetter Designed

By Michelle Whitlock

MichelleWhitlock.com

AIUSA-Group 48

http://aipdx.org

503-227-1878

Next Meeting:

Friday August 10th

First Unitarian Church

1011 SW 12th Ave7:00pm inormal

gathering

7:30pm meeting starts

»



AIUSA group 48 Newsletter August 2012 Pg 2

Tese temporary guidelines are a set o seven questions that

the CCA itsel suggested were inspired by Lennie Small, the

mentally impaired ranch hand in John Steinbeck’s O Mice

and Men. Te American Association o Intellectual and

Development Disabilities (AAIDD) has written that these

7 questions “…are based on alse stereotypes about mental

retardation that eectively exclude all but the most severely

incapacitated.” Te AAIDD (known then as AAMR), was the

main scientic authority noted by the U.S. Supreme Court in

Atkins.

In 2003, Wilson’s lawyers led an “Atkins claim” to challenge

the constitutionality o his death sentence. Tey presented

the courts with the detailed conclusions o a court-appointed

neuropsychologist with 22 years o clinical experience who

assessed Wilson as meeting the criteria or “mental retarda-

tion”.

Te state o exas has presented no expert testimony to rebut

that evidence, but state courts, applying the CCA’s much-

criticized guidelines, rejected the Atkins claim. Te ederal

courts, required under U.S. law to give a high level o deer-

ence to state court rulings, upheld the denial. Wilson’s lawyers

are seeking U.S. Supreme Court intervention on his case.

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty uncon-

ditionally in all cases as the ultimate cruel, inhuman and

degrading punishment; in the United States the process is

riddled with discrimination, inconsistency and error.

Tis would be the seventh execution in exas this year, as the

state heads or its 500th execution since resuming judicial

killing 30 years ago.

Nationwide, 1,301 people have been executed since the death

penalty was reinstated in 1976, including 24 this year.

Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning

grassroots activist organization with more than 3 million sup-

porters, activists and volunteers in more than 150 countries

campaigning or human rights worldwide. Te organization

investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the

public, and works to protect people wherever justice, reedom

truth and dignity are denied.

Urge US Government Leaders to Support the UN Arms Trade TreatyAmnesty International and other organizations were greatly

disappointed and surprised by the call or the delay o this

treaty .

“With one person dying every minute because o armed vio-

lence, there is an imperative or powerul states to lead. Presi-

dent Obama has asked or more time to reach an agreement.

How much more time does he want?” Salil Shetty, Secretary

General o Amnesty International.

“Tis was stunning cowardice by the Obama administration,

which at the last minute did an about-ace and scuttled prog-

ress toward a global arms treaty, just as it reached the nish

line. It’s a staggering abdication o leadership by the world’s

largest exporter o conventional weapons to pull the plug on

the talks just as they were nearing an historic breakthrough

that would have required all nations to deny arms export

licenses where there was an overriding risk that the weapons

would be used to acilitate serious crimes against humanity.

Te negotiations are the culmination o six years o U.N. work

on the treaty and over a decade o campaigning by Nobel

On July 27, 2012, China, Russia and the USA acted to delay

the UN Arms rade reaty, a treaty that could have been a

landmark agreement to end the irresponsible trade in arms

trade. Te treaty included small arms and light weapons

and rules to stop arms transers rom being used or crimes

against humanity, war crimes and serious violations o human

rights are in the dra treaty. »

R emi gi u sz S z cz er b ak S t o c k .X c h n g




Peace Laureates and groups including Amnesty International.”

Suzanne Nossel, Executive Director o Amnesty International

USA.

According to Amnesty International, the US Government

bears a great responsibility to get these talks restarted and

bring to a successul conclusion this all at the U.N. General

Assembly.

Action

Send a letter or email to Oregon’s US Senators urging their

support o the Arms rade reaty similar to the ollowing

sample letter. Either mail a letter or use the web orm on the

senators’ website.

Appeals To

Senator Jef Merkley

313 Hart Senate Oce Building

Washington DC 20510

Web Form: www.merkley.senate.gov/contact/

Senator Ron Wyden

221 Dirksen Senate Oce Building

Washington DC 20510

(202) 224-5244Web Form: www.wyden.senate.gov/contact/

Sample Letter

Dear _________,

I am writing in support o an eective Arms rade reaty, a

treaty that will stop irresponsible arms transers. Te U.S.

Government should be leading the eort to stop the unregu-

lated fow o weapons that contribute to confict and humani-

tarian crises throughout the world and not the cause o the

delay o its passage.

I call on the United States Government to ensure this treaty

stipulates that arms transers shall not be permitted where

there is a substantial risk the arms are likely to be used to

commit or acilitate serious violations o international human

rights law or international humanitarian law .

Please encourage President Obama and your colleagues to en-

sure that a broad scope o weapons, all types o arms transers

as well as ammunition are included in the scope o the treaty.

Tese elements are critical to achieving a “bullet proo” treaty

that will stop weapons rom reaching the hands o those

behind global conficts and humanitarian crises.

Please do everything in your power to ensure that the United

Nations adopts a strong and eective Arms rade reaty that

will keep arms out o the hands o human rights abusers.

I look orward to your response.

Regards,

Take an online action to urge President Obama to support

the Arms Trade Treaty

http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/Action-

Item.aspx?c=6oJCLQPAJiJUG&b=6645049&aid=517422

To learn more about the Arms Control Treaty

http://www.amnesty.org/en/campaigns/control-arms

http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/issues/military-police-

and-arms/arms-trade

http://blog.amnestyusa.org/us/act-vs-ction-arms-trade-

treaty-and-gun-ownership-in-the-us/

Group Coordinator

Joanne Lau

[email protected]

Treasurer

Tena Hoke

[email protected]

Newsletter Editor

Dan Webb

[email protected]

Concert Tabling

Will Ware

[email protected]

Legislative Coordinator

Dan Johnson

[email protected]

Indonesia

Max White

[email protected]

Central Africa / OR

State Death Penalty

Abolition

Terrie Rodello

[email protected]

Central America

Marylou Noble

marylou_noble@

yahoo.com

Darfur (Sudan)Marty Fromer

[email protected]

Prisoners’ Cases

Jane Kristof

[email protected] Cerf

Ron Noble

[email protected]

AIUSA Group 48 Contact Inormation




IRAQ: Urgent Action - Iraq Intends To Execute 196 Prisoners196 prisoners (m)

about executions. Hundreds o people are said to be undersentence o death. Amnesty International is opposed to the

death penalty in all cases because it is a violation o two

undamental human rights, as laid down in Articles 3 and 5

o the Universal Declaration o Human Rights: the right to

lie and the right not to be tortured or subjected to any cruel,

inhuman or degrading punishment. Te organization consid-

ers the death penalty to be the ultimate cruel, inhuman and

degrading punishment.

Amnesty International has repeatedly condemned human

rights abuses by armed groups in Iraq, some o which are war

crimes and crimes against humanity, including kidnapping,

torture and killing o civilians, and continues to call or those

responsible to be brought to justice.

Action

Please write immediately in English or Arabic:

◌ Expressing concern that 196 people are acing imminent

execution;

◌ Urging the authorities to commute these and all other death

sentences; ◌ Calling on them to establish an immediate moratorium on

executions;

◌ Insisting that, while governments have an obligation to

bring to justice those responsible or serious crimes, the death

penalty violates the right to lie and is the ultimate orm o

cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment, and should not

be applied even or the most serious crimes.

Appeals ToPLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 4 SEPEMBER 2012 O

Prime Minister and Acting Minister o Deence and Interior

His Excellency Nuri Kamil al-Maliki, Prime Minister

Convention Centre (Qasr al-Ma’aridh)

Baghdad, IRAQ

Salutation: Your Excellency

Minister o Human Rights

His Excellency Mohammad Shayaa al-Sudani


Baghdad, IRAQ


Some 196 people are at imminent risk o execution in Iraq:the Ministry o Interior has announced their sentences are at

the nal stage and should be implemented soon.

Te Iraqi Ministry o Interior published on its website on 23

July recent news rom the chie o police in Anbar province,

west o Baghdad, about the nal stage o 196 death sentences

in the province. He said that the Court o Cassation had up-

held all the sentences and that he hoped they would be imple-

mented soon. It is unclear i any o the 196 death sentences

have already been ratied by the Iraqi Presidential Council.

Te news published on the Ministry o Interior’s website gave

no details about any o the 196 people acing execution, such

as their names or what charges they were convicted of.

Since the beginning o 2012 at least 70 people have been

executed in Iraq. Te death penalty was suspended or a time

aer the US-led invasion o Iraq but restored in August 2004.

Since then, hundreds o people have been sentenced to death

and many have been executed. Amnesty International consid-

ers the death penalty to be a violation o the right to life, and

the ultimate orm o cruel, inhuman and degrading

treatment.

Additional Information

Te death penalty has been used very extensively in Iraq.

Hundreds o people have been sentenced to death since the

death penalty was reinstated by the Iraqi government in

2004, ollowing a one-year suspension by the then head o

the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), Paul Bremer. Te

government gives very little inormation, such as statistics, »

C h r i s t aRi ch er t S t o c k .X c h n g




Minister o Justice

Hassan al-Shammari


Baghdad, IRAQ


Copies To

Ambassador Jabir Habeb Jabir, Embassy o the

Republic o Iraq

3421 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington DC 20007

el: 1 202 742 1600 EX136

Fax: 1 202 333

Email: [email protected]

Alternate Email: [email protected]

witter: @IraqiEmbassyUSA

Please check with AIUSA Urgent Action Oce i sending ap-

peals aer the above date.

TAJIKISTAN: Urgent Action - "Murder Suspect" Tortured To Confess, Torture,Ill-treatment, Legal concern

being denied ood, drink or sleep, being made to stand up allnight, and being beaten on the ears. He had his nose broken

and is being subjected to psychological torture including

threats to his amily.

Te man, whose name has not been ormally disclosed, is

reportedly only allowed ood and rest when his lawyer visits

him, though his amily takes him ood parcels three times a

day. He has said he is beaten aer each visit rom his lawyer,

to get him to coness: he was taken to the scene o the crime

by the Ministry o Internal Aairs Department o Criminal

Investigation in a car with tinted windows, and beaten.

On 21 July his lawyer asked the investigator o the General

Prosecutor’s oce to conduct a orensic medical examination

but the request was reportedly reused. Te suspect’s wie and

son have reportedly been orced to give alse evidence against

him.


ajikistan is a landlocked country bordering China to the

east, Aghanistan to the south and Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan

to the north, with an estimated population o 7.2 million. It

gained independence rom the Soviet Union in 1991. Te eco

nomic decline o the country aer the collapse o the Soviet

Union was compounded by a devastating civil war, lasting

rom 1992 to 1997. President Emomali Rahmon, in power

since 1994, has been successul in consolidating ajikistan

aer the civil war. He views himsel as the indispensable

guarantor o stability and peace in the ace o possible new

unrest, especially with the unstable economic situation in the

country and the politically unstable situation in neighboring

Aghanistan.

A 45-year-old man was arrested on 13 July on suspicion o

the murder o President Rahmon’s brother-in-law. He is now

in police custody in the capital, Dushanbe, where witnesses

say he has been tortured and otherwise ill-treated to orce

him to coness.

Te husband o President Rahmon’s elder sister was ound

dead on 13 June: he had been shot several times in the head.

A 45-year-old man is known to have been arrested on 13 July

on suspicion o murder (Article 104 o the Criminal Code)

and o participation in a terrorist act (Article 179.3) aer am-

munition was ound in a water tank at his home. He has said

the ammunition was not his, but planted by police the third

time they searched the premises. Although a lawyer was pres-

ent at the start o his rst interrogation, the suspect was not

allowed to see a lawyer rom 16 to 21 July. According to local

sources, he was badly tortured in the Dushanbe police tem-

porary detention center, where he is still held: this included »

M ar g u s S al u s t e S t o c k .X c h n g




Human rights violations in the country are signicant, in-

cluding torture and other ill-treatment by law enorcement

ocers; impunity or torturers; violence against women; and

restrictions on reedom o speech. In recent years indepen-

dent media outlets and journalists have aced prosecution

or criticizing the authorities. orture practices reported in

ajikistan include the use o electric shocks; attaching plastic

bottles lled with water or sand to the detainee’s genitals;

rape; and burning with cigarettes. Beating with batons, trun-

cheons and sticks, kicking and punching are also believed to

be common.

Te authorities have recently taken measures to address en-trenched practices o torture, amending the Criminal Code in

March 2012 to include a denition o torture in line with in-

ternational standards. Te Minister o the Interior is believed

to have instructed law enorcement ocials on 13 July to take

steps to prevent torture and other ill-treatment in the early

stages o detention. However Amnesty International believes

that a number o specic additional measures are needed to

ensure that torture and other ill-treatment in pre-trial deten-

tion are brought to an end in practice. Such measures include

ensuring that key saeguards against torture are implemented,

such as access to a lawyer. Te Criminal Procedural Code

stipulates that detainees are entitled to a lawyer as soon as

they are detained, but, in practice lawyers are at the mercy o

police investigators who can deny them access or many days.

During this period o incommunicado detention, the risk o

torture and other ill-treatment is particularly high. Amnesty

International’s research indicates that torture and other ill-

treatment are particularly prevalent in to the case o people

detained on charges relating to national security .

For further information see the report:Shattered Lives: orture and other Ill-treatment in ajikistan

AI Index EUR 60/004/2012 and brieng No Justice, No Pro-

tection: orture and Other Ill-treatment by Law Enorcement

Ocials in ajikistan AI Index EUR 60/005/2012

Action

Please write immediately in ajik, Russian, English or your

own language:

◌ Urge the authorities to ensure that the individual being held

as a suspect or the murder o the President’s brother-in-law

is protected rom torture and other ill-treatment, order a

prompt, independent investigation into allegations that he has

been tortured and bring those responsible to justice;

◌ Urge them to ensure that he is examined promptly by an

independent doctor and the results provided to his lawyer

and amily;

◌ Express concern that he was not allowed to see his lawyer

between 16 and 21 July and urge them to ensure that he is

interrogated only in the presence o his lawyer;

◌ Urge the authorities to take immediate measures to protect

his amily.

Appeals ToPLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 4 SEPMEBER 2012 O

President

I. S. Rakhmon Dom Pravitelstva

pr. Rudaki 80

734023 Dushanbe

AJIKISAN


Salutation: Dear President Rakhmon

Minister o Internal AfairsR. Rahimov

ekhron Street, 29

734025 Dushanbe

AJIKISAN

Fax: 011 992 372 21 26 48

Salutation: Dear Minister

Copies To

Minister o Foreign Afairs

H. Zaripov

42 Rudaki Avenue734051

Dushanbe

AJIKSAN


Ambassador Abdujabbor Shirinov,

Embassy o the Republic o ajikistan

1005 New Hampshire Avenue, NW,

Washington DC 20037

Fax: 1 202 223 6091 »




el: 1 202 223 6090


Alternate Email: [email protected]

Please check with the AIUSA Urgent Action Oce i sending

appeals aer the above date.

CHINA: Urgent Action - Chinese Housing Activists’ Sentences Upheld, Prisonersof conscience, Freedom of expression, Fear if ill-treatmentNi Yulan (f) and Dong Jiqin (m)

peaceul human rights and legal aid activities and considers

them prisoners o conscience. Te couple’s daughter, who

was able to attend the appeal hearing, is under police surveil-

lance.


Lawyers are increasingly in the oreront o human rights

activism in China as more and more people turn to the law

to push or democracy and basic rights. Te Chinese govern-

ment’s response has been uncompromising. Human rights

lawyers are subject to increased silencing tactics - rom

suspension or revoking o licenses, to harassment, enorced

disappearance or even torture. Tis persecution has kept the

number o human rights lawyers down. Out o more than

204,000 lawyers in China, only a brave ew hundred risk tak-

ing on cases that deal with human rights.

Ni Yulan worked as a lawyer or 18 years. She took on many

politically sensitive cases o petitioners and other people pro-

testing the demolition o their homes.

Tis is the third time Beijing police have held Ni Yulan or an

extended period o time. In 2002, as Ni Yulan was lming the

demolition o a Beijing home, authorities took her to a nearby

police station and tortured her or several days, breaking her

eet and her kneecaps. Her injuries were so severe that she

remains in a wheel chair. When Ni Yulan attempted to

petition the authorities about the beatings, she was arrested,convicted o “obstructing ocial business,” and sentenced to

one year in prison. When convicted, she also lost her proes-

sional license to practice law. Dong Jiqin was barred rom

attending her trial.

When Ni Yulan was released in 2003, she continued ghting

or the rights o people whose homes aced demolitions ahead

o the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In 2008, just beore the Olym-

pics, Ni Yulan was arrested and imprisoned or two years

On 27 July, a Beijing court overturned the sentence o

housing rights activist and ormer lawyer Ni Yulan on a raud

charge. However, the court upheld her and her husband Dong

Jiqin’s sentences or “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”,

criminalized in Article 293 o China’s Criminal Law.

On 10 April, Ni Yulan was sentenced to two years and eight

months in prison or “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”

and “raud.” Her husband Dong Jiqin was sentenced to two

years or “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”. Tey had

been detained in April 2011 and were tried in December 2011.

Tey appealed their sentences, and on 27 July, Beijing Shijin-

shan No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court heard their appeal.

Ni Yulan appeared to be in better health than during her

rst trial in December 2011 which she spent mostly lying

down, needing a respirator to breathe. Now she was able to sitthroughout the hearing although she appeared to have swell-

ing in her neck. According to her lawyers, she is malnour-

ished in prison. Ni Yulan suers rom respiratory, heart and

digestive problems, and cannot walk, due to previous police

torture.

Because Ni Yulan’s sentence or “raud” was overturned, her

sentence is now two years and six months in prison. Dong

Jiqin’s sentence remains as beore. Amnesty International be-

lieves that the couple has been targeted because o Ni Yulan’s»

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aer trying to stop the demolition o her own home. While

in prison, she was tortured and suered rom other ill- treat-

ment. She was also denied adequate medical care.

Upon her release rom prison in April 2010, Ni Yulan and

Dong Jiqin were homeless. Tey lived in a hotel beore police

orced them onto the street and blocked them rom renting

accommodation or even staying with riends. In June 2010,

aer dozens o supporters held a demonstration in solidarity

with Ni Yulan and Dong Jiqin, police moved the couple into

Beijing’s Yuxingong Guesthouse. However, the authorities

continued to subject them to surveillance and other orms o

harassment, including cutting o their water and electricity supply, as well as their Internet access.

While living in the guesthouse Ni Yulan continued to stay in

touch with activists, lawyers, and journalists and to publi-

cize human rights abuses on her microblog. In his 2010 lm,

Emergency Shelter, documentary maker He Yang brought

widespread attention to Ni Yulan’s persecution.

Action

Please write immediately in English, Chinese or your own

language: ◌ Calling on the authorities to immediately and uncondition-

ally release Ni Yulan and Dong Jiqin;

◌ Urging them to guarantee that the couple are not tortured

or otherwise ill-treated whilst they remain in detention;

◌ Calling on the authorities to ensure that they have access to

their amilies, legal representation o their choice, adequate

ood, and any medical care they may require.

Appeals To

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 7 SEPEMBER 2012Director o the Beijing Public Security

Bureau

Fu Zhenghua Juzhang

Beijingshi Gong’anju

9 Dongdajie, Qianmen

Dongchengqu, Beijingshi 100740

People’s Republic o CHINA

Fax: 011 86 10 6524 2927

Salutation: Dear Director

Minister o Justice o the People’s

Republic o China

WU Aiying Buzhang

Siabu

10 Chaoyangmen Nandajie

Chaoyangqu, Beijingshi 100020


Fax: 011 86 10 6529 2345


Salutation: Dear Minister

Premier

WEN Jiabao Guojia ZongliTe State Council General Oce

2 Fuyoujie, Xichengqu,

Beijingshi 100017,


Fax: 011 86 10 6596 1109 (c/o Ministry o

Foreign Aairs)


Copies To

Ambassador Zhang Yesui,

Embassy o the People’s Republic o China

3505 International Place, NW, Washington DC 20008, USA

Fax: 1 202 495-2138


Please check with the AIUSA Urgent Action Oce i sending

appeals aer the above date.

Within the United States

$0.31 - Postcards

$0.45 - Letters and Cards up to 1 oz.

To Canada

$0.80 - Postcards

$0.80 - Airmail Letters and Cards up to 1 oz.

To Mexico

$0.84 - Postcards


To all other destination countries

$1.05 - Postcards


Postage Rates




NIGERIA: Oil spill investigations ‘a fasco’ in the Niger Delta Audrey Gaughran, Director of Global Issues at Amnesty International

“Shell have said locally that the spill looks like sabotage, and

they completely ignore the evidence o corrosion. Tis has

generated a lot o conusion and some anger in the com-

munity,” said Stevyn Obodoekwe, Director o Programmes

at CEHRD. “We have seen the pipe and brought an expert to

look at it, and it seems pretty clear it is corroded.” When Am-

nesty International contacted Shell’s headquarters to ask or

evidence to support the claim o sabotage in Bodo, Shell said

the company has not claimed that the cause o the spill was

sabotage and the joint investigation has not been completed.

However Shell could not explain the statements made locally

to the community.

Shell has claimed that the joint investigation team, which

includes community members, the regulators, Shell sta

and representatives o the police and Joint ask Force, was

not able to complete the oil spill investigation because local

youths threw stones at them. Witnesses on site say that they

did not see any such incident and that the security services

were present during investigation.

Shell will now remove the aected length o pipe to a Shell a-

cility where, according to the company, tests will be done. Te

community and local environment and human rights activists

are araid that this process – totally under the control o Shell

– lacks transparency and the outcome will not be credible.

Shell’s pipelines are old and many have not been properly

maintained or replaced, with local people and NGOs report-

ing that the pipes in the Bodo area have not been replaced

since 1958. When Amnesty International asked Shell to

conrm the age and status o the pipes the company did not

respond.

One year ago, the United Nations Environment Programme

(UNEP) issued a major report on the eects o oil pollution

in the Ogoniland region o the Niger Delta. Little has changed

as this latest oil spill at Bodo demonstrates. Among its nd-

ings, UNEP conrmed that Nigerian regulatory agencies “are

at the mercy o oil companies when it comes to conducting

site inspections”. UNEP also ound that Shell had ailed to

adhere to its own standards in relation to maintaining its

inrastructure.

he investigation process into oil spills in the Niger Deltahas been challenged today by Amnesty International and the

Centre or Environment, Human Rights and Development

(CEHRD), as inconsistencies in Shell’s claims about sabotage

were revealed.

Experts have examined evidence rom the latest oil spill rom

Shell’s poorly maintained pipelines in the Bodo creek area

and conrmed that it strongly indicates that the leak is due to

corrosion o the pipeline. However, Shell appears to be ignor-

ing the evidence o corrosion.

“Te investigation process into oil spills in the Niger Delta is a

asco. Tere is more investment in public relations messaging

than in acing up to the act that much o the oil inrastruc-

ture is old, poorly maintained and prone to leaks – some

o them devastating in terms o their human rights impact,”

said Audrey Gaughran, Director o Global Issues at Amnesty

International. “No matter what evidence is presented to Shell

about oil spills, they constantly hide behind the ‘sabotage’ ex-

cuse and dodge their responsibility or massive pollution that

is due to their ailure to properly maintain their inrastructureand make it sae, and to properly clean up oil spills.”

Amnesty International and CEHRD asked US company, Ac-

cuacts, which has many years experience in examining oil

inrastructure, to examine photographs o the pipe at the leak

point. Tey stated: “Tis is apparently due to external cor-

rosion. Notice the layered loss o metal on the outside o the

pipe around the "stick" rom pipe wall loss (thinning) due to

external corrosion. It is a very amiliar pattern that we have

seen many times on other pipelines." »

Geri-Jean Blanchard Stock.Xchng



Postage


AIUSA group 48 Newsletter August 2012

“Years o bad practice with regard to oil spill investigations

have le communities highly distrustul o the process and

outcomes,” said Stevyn Obodoekwe. "Shell has never ad-

dressed evidence o bad practice in the oil spill investigation

process, o which the situation at Bodo is one more example.

Spills can be attributed to sabotage when they are in act due

to corrosion and Shell knows this has occurred in the past.”

Tousands o oil spills have occurred in the Niger Delta since

the oil industry began operations in the late 1950s. Corrosion

o the pipes and equipment ailure were responsible or the

majority o spills. In recent years sabotage, vandalism and

the o oil have also contributed to pollution. However, cor-rosion and equipment ailure remain very serious problems

which have never been addressed. Oil companies are respon-

sible or ensuring that, as ar as possible, their equipment is

not vulnerable to tampering. However, Shell has not respond-

ed to request to or inormation on any measures it has taken

to prevent sabotage and vandalism.

On 3 August Amnesty International and CEHRD published a

report on an oil investigation at Bodo in June/July 2012. Te

report ocuses on the lack o transparency in the process and

the ailure o shell to disclose any inormation on the condi-

tion or age o its pipes. Since 2011 Shell has posted oil spill

investigation data on its website. Tis move was welcomed by

Amnesty International and CEHRD. However, as research by

both organizations has made clear, the process on the groundremains highly problematic, and there is a lack o indepen-

dence and transparency in the investigations themselves.

Group 48 Newsletter - August 2012

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Transcript of Group 48 Newsletter - August 2012