Current Developments Related to
Human Rights and the Environment

 

In the news

• Rising Acidity Is Threatening Food Web of Oceans, Science Panel Says (1-31-09)
  
  
• EPA restores stricter reporting of toxic pollution (4-21-09)
  "People have a right to the information that might affect their health and the health of their children - and EPA has a responsibility to provide it," Jackson said in a statement.
  
  
• Late Nigerian activist's son to see Shell in court (5-5-09)
  "Corporate behavior has to include respect for human rights standards," said Jennie Green, a lawyer for the Center for Constitutional Rights, which filed the lawsuits on behalf of the plaintiffs.
  
  
• Oil Industry Braces for Trial on Rights Abuses (May 22, 2009)
  Oil companies are being sued on charges of environmental damage, collusion with repressive governments and contributing to human rights abuses, among others.... “The lesson here is that these cases aren’t going away,” Mr. Ganesan said. “If a jury found Shell guilty, this would change the behavior of the industry pretty quickly.”
  
  
• Shell oil accused of human rights violations (May 27, 2009)
  Stephen Kretzmann, director of Oil Change International, who worked with Saro-Wiwa before his death, said the trial came too late for the Ogoni nine. But, whatever the outcome, he believes it will "send a message to multinationals that they have to obey local and international laws on human rights."
  
  
• Shell pays out $15.5m over Saro-Wiwa killing (June 9, 2009)
  The settlement, reached on the eve of the trial in a federal court in New York, was one of the largest payouts agreed by a ­multinational corporation charged with human rights violations. The scale of the payment was being seen by experts in human rights law as a step towards international businesses being made accountable for their environmental and social actions.
  

Human Rights developments

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