Trampling human rights
There are many international laws and agreements designed to make extractive companies – whether they are drilling for oil, fracking for gas or mining for minerals – uphold human rights and respect local communities. But despite this, there have been clear cases all over the world of fossil fuel companies breaching human rights standards.
And with large teams of lawyers and PR experts, oil and gas companies are often able to keep the full extent of these rights violations out of the news. At the same time, these companies will often try to boost their brands by publicly signing up to human rights agreements, adopting codes of conduct and appointing ‘Human Rights Advisors’ – while on the ground, little changes.
- In 2017, Culture Unstained published a report which itemised many of BP’s close relationships with repressive governments and regimes that violate human rights, including Azerbaijan, Egypt, Mexico, Russia, Indonesia, Colombia, Angola and Algeria.
Case Studies
From war to warming: the shameful story of BP in Iraq
The British Museum’s current blockbuster exhibition, I am Ashurbanipal: king of the world, king of Assyria, is sponsored by its regular partner, the oil giant BP. This is painfully ironic, given that many of the objects on display were originally looted by the British from modern-day Iraq, and BP was one of the biggest profiteers […]
Shell, human rights abuses and the Ogoni Nine
Shell’s long history of pollution and human rights violations in Nigeria includes collaborating with the Nigerian state to bring about the executions of Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Ogoni Nine.
BP complicit in human rights abuses in Colombia
BP has been accused of complicity in human rights abuses and environmental damage in Colombia. And although it sold its Colombian assets in 2010, the fight for justice for the people affected by its operations still continues.
Why Statoil was sued by its own human rights advisor
In 2010, Statoil was sued by its own human rights advisor, who claimed that the company had essentially given a false job description, misrepresenting the Human Rights Advisor as a meaningful position when in fact it was just a PR role.
BP starts fracking Argentinian ‘carbon bomb’
BP’s fracking in Argentina faces strong opposition from local people, including Indigenous Mapuche communities. Argentina has the world’s second biggest reserve of shale gas after China, with resources concentrated in the highlands of Vaca Muerta which has been dubbed a ‘carbon bomb’.
