Environmental Justice
Action in Southern Africa
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Environmental Justice
Action in Southern Africa |
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PRESS
RELEASE -24th April 2003 Communities
attend Royal Dutch Shell’s AGMs in London/The Hague and raise their concerns Royal
Dutch Shell’s concurrent annual general meetings in The Hague and London
yesterday were attended by surprise new shareholders in the form of activists
from communities neighbouring Shell facilities around the world.
Local community based organisations from around the world recently
decided to buy single shares in this multi-national corporation in order to gain
direct access to Shell shareholders with the hope of raising awareness of the
environmental destruction and human suffering Shell is causing worldwide. In
The Hague, Netherlands,
environmental activists constructed a giant “leaking fuel pipeline” in front
of the entrance to the Shell AGM. This
mock leaking pipeline represented the leaking pipelines at the Shell/BP oil
refinery in south Durban. Shareholders
attending the AGM had to walk under the “leaking pipeline” in order to gain
access to the AGM. A giant banner
was also erected declaring “Shell stop polluting South Africa” (see attached
photo). Inside,
Ardiel Soeker of groundWork, a new Shell shareholder, asked
questions about the leaking fuel pipelines from the Shell/BP refinery in south
Durban. He also raised concerns around communities’ lack of access
to information and the frustration of dead-end dialogue taking place with Shell
at the local level. Friends
of the Earth (Netherlands, EWNI and SA) used the opportunity of this AGM to
launch a new report entitled “Leaking pipelines – Shell in South Africa”
(see www.foenl.org). In
London,
Heeten Kalan (representing groundWork) and Desmond
D’Sa (representing the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance)
joined other community representatives from the USA, Philippines, and Niger
Delta [1] at the London Shell AGM. At
the AGM, Chair of Shell's Board, Sir Phillip Watts opened the meeting
saying that Shell wants to earn people's trust; wants to be transparent; and
wants to respect people. Responding to his remarks, Tony Juniper, Executive
Director of Friends of the Earth UK, asked Watts if he would give time to the
community representatives to voice their concerns to the AGM. Watts agreed to
hear these concerns and the community representatives challenged the Shell Board
and Watts to pay close attention to the problems on the ground at these Shell
facilities. Responding
to Watt's claims that dialogue on a local level will solve these issues, Hope
Esquillo-Tura from Philippines said, "After numerous failed attempts to
dialogue with local plant managers, we are flying across oceans and continents
to let you know that local dialogue is not working." The group sent a
strong message to Shell saying that the international office has to get
involved, as it did in the successful relocation of members of the Diamond
Community in Norco, Louisiana, if trust needs to be built to remedy local
concerns. Heeten
Kalan,
representing groundWork, reminded Watts that dialogue was not
enough and that eventually, Shell will be judged by its actions and not only
their words. Along
with Friends of Earth, UK, the representatives held a press briefing prior to
the AGM to tell their stories to the media and to release "Facing the
Challenge: The Other Shell Report 2002". This report documents the
stories of fenceline communities in six countries and tells the stories not told
in Shell's glossy reports and brochures. Desmond
D'Sa,
Chair of SDCEA, pointed to the striking comparisons between the Shell refinery
in South Durban and the one in Denmark which are highlighted in a recently
published report “A 2002 snapshot – Comparison of refineries in Dennmark and
South Durban” [2]. "Why does Shell operate with better and cleaner technologies in Denmark than in South Africa? Are our lives worth less? We are asking Shell to clean up so we in South Durban do not have to continue suffering," D’Sa asked. Hilton
Kelley,
representative from Port Arthur, shared that after a major recent chemical
release from Shell in his community, Shell sent a letter offering people a free
carwash. "They are willing to clean my car -- but what about my lungs, my
liver, my heart? Shell cannot disrespect and disregard us this way," he
exclaimed. In
private meetings and discussions with Shell in London on Monday, the community
coalition expressed the strong need for the international office to become
involved in these local issues. The
coalition now has an independent and direct communication link to the London
office which they will use to highlight the failures of local processes.
The
delegation also met with major institutional shareholders to express their
concerns and highlight the discrepancies between the Shell reports and brochures
and the reality on the ground. For
more photographs of the UK or Dutch Shell AGM please contact Linda Ambler or
Bobby Peek on 033-3425662 or Eugene from Milieudefensie at eugene@milieudefensie.nl. For
more information contact: Bobby
Peek (groundWork, SA): 033 3425662 or 082 4641383 Heeten
Kalan (SAEPEJ): 0944 77 3697 9647 Tony
Juniper (Friends of the Earth, EWNI): 0944 20 7490 0336 and 0944 77 1284 3207 Myrthe Verweij
(Milieudefensie, Amsterdam): 0931 62 959 3876 “Failing the
Challenge - The Other Shell Report 2002” can be downloaded here.
“Leaking
Pipelines – Shell in South Africa” can be downloaded from: www.foenl.org NOTES[1]
Civil society organisations and their representatives: Desmond D’Sa, Chair of
SDCEA, Durban, South Africa; Hope Esquillo-Tura, United Front to Oust Oil
Depots, the Philippines; Oronto Douglas, Friends of the Earth Nigeria; Hilton
Kelley, Director of the Community In-power and Development Association, Port
Arthur, Texas; Margie Richard, Concerned Citizens of Norco, Louisiana, USA;
Judith Robinson, Environmental Health Fund, USA; Denny Larson, Refinery Reform
Campaign and Global Community Monitor, USA; Craig Bennett,
Friends of the Earth (EWNI); Myrthe Verweij, Milieudefensie; Heeten
Kalan, the South African Exchange Programme on Environmental Justice. [2]
This report was published by SDCEA and the Danmarks Naturfreningsforening (DN).
It can be downloaded from: http://scnc.udw.ac.za/~ub/cbos/sdcea/dnmain.htm |