Human rights organizations were bitterly disappointed when the United States Supreme Court rejected legal claims made by the family of Nigerian activist Barinem Kiobel against oil multinational Shell earlier this year. Kiobel and eight other activists had been sentenced to death and executed in 1995 for protesting against oil extraction in the Niger Delta. The plaintiffs in the case had accused the company of colluding with the Nigerian government in the activists’ deaths.
Human rights sometimes suffer when companies extract oil, mine the earth or produce cheap clothing. When those affected take the matter to court, they often have little hope of compensation or support.
- Date 09.12.2013
- Author Jennifer Fraczek / sad
- Editor Nancy Isenson, André Leslie
Human rights organizations were bitterly disappointed when the United States Supreme Court rejected legal claims made by the family of Nigerian activist Barinem Kiobel against oil multinational Shell earlier this year. Kiobel and eight other activists had been sentenced to death and executed in 1995 for protesting against oil extraction in the Niger Delta. The plaintiffs in the case had accused the company of colluding with the Nigerian government in the activists’ deaths.
The Kiobel v. Shell case was prosecuted in the United States as a result of the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), which allows foreigners to seek compensation for human rights violations there, regardless of where the alleged abuses occurred. More than 100 cases have been adjudicated under ATS, including crimes committed during Apartheid-era South Africa and under Argentina’s dictatorship.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
