On March 3, 2010, EarthRights International (ERI) argued to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that the landmark environmental and public health case brought by indigenous Peruvian Achuar and the U.S. NGO Amazon Watch against Los Angeles-based oil giant Occidental Petroleum (Oxy), Maynas Carijano v.
ERI's Mekong Legal Advocacy Institute (MLAI) convened for the second time in Chiang Mai, from January 17 to 24, 2010. Most regional lawyers who attended the first session were there, and a few new lawyers joined us for the second session. Training and strategizing were vigorous and comprehensive, and plans for future actions moved forward with the mutual agreement of all.
Written in consultation with unions, businesses and NGOs, the UN Norms were adopted by the Sub-Commission on the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights in August of 2003.
EarthRights International has actively supported the UN Norms. The Norms represent an important step forward, providing a common and comprehensive international statement of the human rights responsibilities of companies.
December 3, 2009 is the 25th Anniversary of the Bhopal Disaster. On the early morning of December 3rd, 1984, a cloud of toxic gas leaked from the Union Carbide pesticide factory in Bhopal, India, spreading Methyl isocyanate and other deadly gases through the city.
On the fourteenth anniversary of the shocking and unjust executions of the Ogoni 9, plaintiffs, lawyers, campaigners, and long-time supporters came together for an evening in Washington, DC to honor the legacy of the those brave Ogoni leaders and celebrate the landmark settlement in the case against Royal Dutch Shell.
Unocal Settles Myanmar Suit (Audio), December 14, 2004, NPR Morning Edition
In an attempt to end a prolonged legal battle, US Unocal is settling lawsuits alleging human rights, December 14, 2004, EnergyIntel.com (LOGIN REQUIRED)
EarthRights International's litigation seeks to provide remedies for earth rights abuses around the world. Working in partnership with other legal organizations and private lawyers, we are litigating several cases on behalf of victims of earth rights abuses, and we have filed amicus curiae ("friend of the court") briefs in several other cases.
The parties in Wiwa v. Shell have agreed to settle human rights claims charging the Royal Dutch/Shell company, its Nigerian subsidiary, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC or Shell Nigeria), and the former head of its Nigerian operation, Brian Anderson, with complicity in the torture, killing, and other abuses of Ogoni leader Ken Saro-Wiwa and other non-violent Nigerian activists in the mid-1990s in the Ogoni region of the Niger Delta.
New York, June 3, 2009 – Today, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the District Court decision dismissing the Wiwa v. Shell plaintiffs’ claims against Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, Ltd. (Shell Nigeria). The District Court had dismissed the case against Shell Nigeria on March 4, 2008, finding it did not have jurisdiction over the company because the plaintiffs had failed to establish that Shell Nigeria was doing sufficient business in the United States to justify trying them in U.S. courts.
The U.S. Congress’s Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission heard testimony today about the negative environmental impacts of oil operations in the Niger Delta, including those of multinational oil giant Royal Dutch/Shell in the Ogoni region of the Niger Delta.
