A major new United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report on the impacts of oil pollution in the Ogoniland region of Nigeria’s Niger Delta is expected to be released in Abuja, Nigeria during the afternoon of Thursday 4 August.

 

The report, which was established to examine the impacts of oil pollution on the environment and communities in Ogoniland, is the first such study of oil pollution impacts in the Niger Delta where the oil industry has operated for more than 50 years.

 

The oil industry in the Niger Delta comprises the government of Nigeria and multinational oil companies, with Shell the main on-land operator. Shell is the company responsible for oil infrastructure in Ogoniland.

 

Amnesty International has researched and reported on the devastating impact of oil pollution on human rights in the Niger Delta, including the rights to food, water, health and livelihood. Amnesty has exposed how the poorest people are often the most likely to be exploited by multinational extractive companies, and to be pushed deeper into poverty.

 

Amnesty has experts available to discuss the human rights issues related to oil extraction in the Niger Delta, and the organisation will be responding to the UNEP report when it is published.

 

Amnesty experts available:

 

Audrey Gaughran, Amnesty International Director of Global Thematic Issues - she has done extensive research on the oil industry in the Niger Delta.

 

Aster van Kregten, Amnesty International Nigeria Researcher - she has recently returned from Ogoniland in the Niger Delta.