Shell Violates Human Rights and
Pollutes the Environment
British-Dutch company Shell is
accused before the PPT of violating labor rights and
polluting the environment in Argentina; of affecting the health of local
residents in Brazil with chemical and heavy metals deposits; and of repressing,
with the help of the police, the opposition of the community and local
activists in Ireland.
Royal Dutch Shell is a
British-Dutch company devoted to energy as well as chemical production. It was
created in 1907 when the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company and Shell Transport and
Trading Company Ltd merged their operations to compete against the then US
giant Standard Oil. The company is currently present in 140 countries. In
It has 112,000 employees, its
income in 2005 was 380 billion dollars and its revenues were 26.2 billion
dollars. This global group of companies carries out oil and gas exploration and
production, it generates elecricity, fuels, oils and
other oil by-products, chemical products and it sells energy, hydrocarbons and
its by-products.
Shell has been in
In May of 2006, several NGO
filed a claim before the Dutch and the Brazilian National Contact Point (NCP)
for the OECD guidelines (for multinational corporations) regarding Royal Dutch
Shell's operations in Brasil. The case refers
to Shell's refusal to comply with a petition of the Brazilian government in
January of 2005, requesting the company to put an end to the deposition of
chemicals in and under its facilities, a practice that the company has been
carrying out for over twenty years. The government also urged Shell to provide
assistance to the workers and local residents whose health has been affected by
the high concentration of chemicals and heavy metals in their blood. Shell has
shown little concern for its own workers and for the local residents, and it
fails to implement plans and adopt technologies to mitigate potential risks in
its oil deposit. It has also failed to provide relevant information on the
impact of its operations on the environment, health and security.
In
Key issues: Natural Resources
and Neocolonialism
Denouncing organizations: CAVE - Colectivo Alternativa Verde, Sindicato dos Trabalhadores no Comércio de Minérios e Derivados de Petróleo no estado de