1 Texas On Verge of Executing Mentally Disabled Man 2 Urge US Government Leaders to Support the UN Arms Trade Treaty 4 IRAQ:

Urgent Action - Iraq Intends To Execute 196 Prisoners

Newsletter
Amnesty International USA Group 48

08.12
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5 TAJIKISTAN: Urgent Action - "Murder Suspect" Tortured To Confess 7 CHINA: Urgent Action Chinese Housing Activists Sentences Upheld 9 NIGERIA: Oil spill investigations a fiasco in the Niger Delta AIUSA-Group 48 http://aipdx.org 503-227-1878 Next Meeting: Friday August 10th First Unitarian Church 1011 SW 12th Ave 7:00pm informal gathering 7:30pm meeting starts
NewsLetter Designed By Michelle Whitlock MichelleWhitlock.com

Texas On Verge of Executing Mentally Disabled Man

That puts Wilson below the first percentile of human intelligence, and hes called on Texas to reverse its utterly shameful decision to go forward on in an even lower percentile for adaptive Tuesday with the execution of Marvin functioning, said Moye. Its utterly Wilson, who has an IQ of 61. If Texas shameful for Texas to be considering an wont commute the death sentence, then execution in this case. the U.S. Supreme Court must step in A decade ago, in Atkins v. Virginia, the to stop Texas from defying its ban on executing mentally disabled prisoners. Supreme Court prohibited the execution of offenders with mental retardaTexas seems to think it can buck even tion while leaving it up to the indithe Supreme Court, said Laura Moye, vidual states as to how to comply with director of Amnesty Internationals the ruling. Death Penalty Abolition Campaign. The Supreme Court must hear this Before the Atkins ruling, Texas excase, if Texas refuses to commute the ecuted more inmates diagnosed with sentence. mental retardation than any other state. Wilson, 54, who is African American, is A decade later, its legislature has yet to due to be put to death by lethal injecenact a law to comply with Atkins, and tion this coming Tuesday for a murder it appears that temporary guidelines committed in 1992. A clinical neurodeveloped by the Texas Court of Crimipsychologist has concluded that he has nal Appeals (TCCA) in 2004 are letting mental retardation. According to his the state execute offenders who should most recent test, Wilson has an IQ of be exempted from this punishment 61 (most states bar executions for those under the Constitution. with IQs at 70 or below).

Amnesty International USA today

August 3, 2012

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These temporary guidelines are a set of seven questions that the TCCA itself suggested were inspired by Lennie Small, the mentally impaired ranch hand in John Steinbecks Of Mice and Men. The American Association of Intellectual and Development Disabilities (AAIDD) has written that these 7 questions are based on false stereotypes about mental retardation that effectively exclude all but the most severely incapacitated. The AAIDD (known then as AAMR), was the main scientific authority noted by the U.S. Supreme Court in Atkins. In 2003, Wilsons lawyers filed an Atkins claim to challenge the constitutionality of his death sentence. They presented the courts with the detailed conclusions of a court-appointed neuropsychologist with 22 years of clinical experience who assessed Wilson as meeting the criteria for mental retardation. The state of Texas has presented no expert testimony to rebut that evidence, but state courts, applying the TCCAs muchcriticized guidelines, rejected the Atkins claim. The federal courts, required under U.S. law to give a high level of defer-

ence to state court rulings, upheld the denial. Wilsons lawyers are seeking U.S. Supreme Court intervention on his case. Amnesty International opposes the death penalty unconditionally in all cases as the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment; in the United States the process is riddled with discrimination, inconsistency and error. This would be the seventh execution in Texas this year, as the state heads for its 500th execution since resuming judicial killing 30 years ago. Nationwide, 1,301 people have been executed since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, including 24 this year. Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with more than 3 million supporters, activists and volunteers in more than 150 countries campaigning for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied. Amnesty International and other organizations were greatly disappointed and surprised by the call for the delay of this treaty.

Urge US Government Leaders to Support the UN Arms Trade Treaty

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With one person dying every minute because of armed violence, there is an imperative for powerful states to lead. President Obama has asked for more time to reach an agreement. How much more time does he want? Salil Shetty, Secretary General of Amnesty International.

This was stunning cowardice by the Obama administration, which at the last minute did an about-face and scuttled progress toward a global arms treaty, just as it reached the finish line. Its a staggering abdication of leadership by the worlds n July 27, 2012, China, Russia and the USA acted to delay largest exporter of conventional weapons to pull the plug on the talks just as they were nearing an historic breakthrough the UN Arms Trade Treaty, a treaty that could have been a that would have required all nations to deny arms export landmark agreement to end the irresponsible trade in arms licenses where there was an overriding risk that the weapons trade. The treaty included small arms and light weapons would be used to facilitate serious crimes against humanity. and rules to stop arms transfers from being used for crimes The negotiations are the culmination of six years of U.N. work against humanity, war crimes and serious violations of human on the treaty and over a decade of campaigning by Nobel rights are in the draft treaty.

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Peace Laureates and groups including Amnesty International. that will stop weapons from reaching the hands of those Suzanne Nossel, Executive Director of Amnesty International behind global conflicts and humanitarian crises. USA. Please do everything in your power to ensure that the United According to Amnesty International, the US Government Nations adopts a strong and effective Arms Trade Treaty that bears a great responsibility to get these talks restarted and will keep arms out of the hands of human rights abusers. bring to a successful conclusion this fall at the U.N. General I look forward to your response. Assembly. Regards, Action Take an online action to urge President Obama to support Send a letter or email to Oregons US Senators urging their the Arms Trade Treaty support of the Arms Trade Treaty similar to the following sample letter. Either mail a letter or use the web form on the senators website. http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?c=6oJCLQPAJiJUG&b=6645049&aid=517422
To learn more about the Arms Control Treaty

Senator Jeff Merkley 313 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 Web Form: www.merkley.senate.gov/contact/ Senator Ron Wyden 221 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 224-5244 Web Form: www.wyden.senate.gov/contact/ Dear _________, I am writing in support of an effective Arms Trade Treaty, a treaty that will stop irresponsible arms transfers. The U.S. Government should be leading the effort to stop the unregulated flow of weapons that contribute to conflict and humanitarian crises throughout the world and not the cause of the delay of its passage. I call on the United States Government to ensure this treaty stipulates that arms transfers shall not be permitted where there is a substantial risk the arms are likely to be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international human rights law or international humanitarian law. Please encourage President Obama and your colleagues to ensure that a broad scope of weapons, all types of arms transfers as well as ammunition are included in the scope of the treaty. These elements are critical to achieving a bullet proof treaty
Sample Letter

Appeals To

http://www.amnesty.org/en/campaigns/control-arms http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/issues/military-policeand-arms/arms-trade http://blog.amnestyusa.org/us/fact-vs-fiction-arms-tradetreaty-and-gun-ownership-in-the-us/ AIUSA Group 48 Contact Information

Group Coordinator Joanne Lau jlau@easystreet.net Treasurer Tena Hoke tena.hoke@gmail.com Newsletter Editor Dan Webb write_to_dan@yahoo.com Concert Tabling Will Ware ww_ware@yahoo.com Legislative Coordinator Dan Johnson daniel.p.johnson@gmail.com Indonesia Max White maxw33@comcast.net Central Africa / OR State Death Penalty Abolition Terrie Rodello tarodello@igc.org Central America Marylou Noble marylou_noble@ yahoo.com Darfur (Sudan) Marty Fromer martyfromer@gmail.com Prisoners Cases Jane Kristof kristofj@pdx.edu Cornelia Cerf Ron Noble ronald0216@yahoo.com

AIUSA group 48 Newsletter August 2012 Pg 4

IRAQ: Urgent Action - Iraq Intends To Execute 196 Prisoners

196 prisoners (m)
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about executions. Hundreds of people are said to be under sentence of death. Amnesty International is opposed to the death penalty in all cases because it is a violation of two fundamental human rights, as laid down in Articles 3 and 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: the right to life and the right not to be tortured or subjected to any cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment. The organization considers the death penalty to be the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. Amnesty International has repeatedly condemned human rights abuses by armed groups in Iraq, some of which are war crimes and crimes against humanity, including kidnapping, torture and killing of civilians, and continues to call for those responsible to be brought to justice.

Some 196 people are at imminent risk of execution in Iraq:

the Ministry of Interior has announced their sentences are at the final stage and should be implemented soon.

The Iraqi Ministry of Interior published on its website on 23 Action July recent news from the chief of police in Anbar province, west of Baghdad, about the final stage of 196 death sentences Please write immediately in English or Arabic: Expressing concern that 196 people are facing imminent in the province. He said that the Court of Cassation had upheld all the sentences and that he hoped they would be imple- execution; mented soon. It is unclear if any of the 196 death sentences Urging the authorities to commute these and all other death have already been ratified by the Iraqi Presidential Council. sentences; The news published on the Ministry of Interiors website gave Calling on them to establish an immediate moratorium on no details about any of the 196 people facing execution, such executions; as their names or what charges they were convicted of. Insisting that, while governments have an obligation to bring to justice those responsible for serious crimes, the death Since the beginning of 2012 at least 70 people have been executed in Iraq. The death penalty was suspended for a time penalty violates the right to life and is the ultimate form of after the US-led invasion of Iraq but restored in August 2004. cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment, and should not Since then, hundreds of people have been sentenced to death be applied even for the most serious crimes. and many have been executed. Amnesty International considers the death penalty to be a violation of the right to life, and the ultimate form of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.
Appeals To

The death penalty has been used very extensively in Iraq. Hundreds of people have been sentenced to death since the death penalty was reinstated by the Iraqi government in 2004, following a one-year suspension by the then head of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), Paul Bremer. The government gives very little information, such as statistics,

Additional Information

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 4 SEPTEMBER 2012 TO Prime Minister and Acting Minister of Defence and Interior His Excellency Nuri Kamil al-Maliki, Prime Minister Convention Centre (Qasr al-Maaridh) Baghdad, IRAQ Salutation: Your Excellency Minister of Human Rights His Excellency Mohammad Shayaa al-Sudani Convention Centre (Qasr al-Maaridh) Baghdad, IRAQ Salutation: Your Excellency

AIUSA group 48 Newsletter August 2012 Pg 5

Minister of Justice Hassan al-Shammari Convention Centre (Qasr al-Maaridh) Baghdad, IRAQ Salutation: Your Excellency Ambassador Jabir Habeb Jabir, Embassy of the Republic of Iraq
Copies To

3421 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington DC 20007 Tel: 1 202 742 1600 EXT136 Fax: 1 202 333 Email: amboffice@iraqiembassy.org Alternate Email: info@iraqiembassy.us Twitter: @IraqiEmbassyUSA Please check with AIUSA Urgent Action Office if sending appeals after the above date.

TAJIKISTAN: Urgent Action - "Murder Suspect" Tortured To Confess, Torture, Ill-treatment, Legal concern
being denied food, drink or sleep, being made to stand up all night, and being beaten on the ears. He had his nose broken and is being subjected to psychological torture including threats to his family. The man, whose name has not been formally disclosed, is reportedly only allowed food and rest when his lawyer visits him, though his family takes him food parcels three times a day. He has said he is beaten after each visit from his lawyer, to get him to confess: he was taken to the scene of the crime by the Ministry of Internal Affairs Department of Criminal Investigation in a car with tinted windows, and beaten. On 21 July his lawyer asked the investigator of the General Prosecutors office to conduct a forensic medical examination but the request was reportedly refused. The suspects wife and son have reportedly been forced to give false evidence against him. Tajikistan is a landlocked country bordering China to the east, Afghanistan to the south and Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan to the north, with an estimated population of 7.2 million. It gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. The economic decline of the country after the collapse of the Soviet Union was compounded by a devastating civil war, lasting from 1992 to 1997. President Emomali Rahmon, in power since 1994, has been successful in consolidating Tajikistan after the civil war. He views himself as the indispensable guarantor of stability and peace in the face of possible new unrest, especially with the unstable economic situation in the country and the politically unstable situation in neighboring Afghanistan.
Additional Information
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A 45-year-old man was arrested on 13 July on suspicion of

the murder of President Rahmons brother-in-law. He is now in police custody in the capital, Dushanbe, where witnesses say he has been tortured and otherwise ill-treated to force him to confess.

The husband of President Rahmons elder sister was found dead on 13 June: he had been shot several times in the head. A 45-year-old man is known to have been arrested on 13 July on suspicion of murder (Article 104 of the Criminal Code) and of participation in a terrorist act (Article 179.3) after ammunition was found in a water tank at his home. He has said the ammunition was not his, but planted by police the third time they searched the premises. Although a lawyer was present at the start of his first interrogation, the suspect was not allowed to see a lawyer from 16 to 21 July. According to local sources, he was badly tortured in the Dushanbe police temporary detention center, where he is still held: this included

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Human rights violations in the country are significant, including torture and other ill-treatment by law enforcement officers; impunity for torturers; violence against women; and restrictions on freedom of speech. In recent years independent media outlets and journalists have faced prosecution for criticizing the authorities. Torture practices reported in Tajikistan include the use of electric shocks; attaching plastic bottles filled with water or sand to the detainees genitals; rape; and burning with cigarettes. Beating with batons, truncheons and sticks, kicking and punching are also believed to be common.

The authorities have recently taken measures to address entrenched practices of torture, amending the Criminal Code in Appeals To PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 4 SEPTMEBER 2012 TO March 2012 to include a definition of torture in line with international standards. The Minister of the Interior is believed President to have instructed law enforcement officials on 13 July to take I. S. Rakhmon Dom Pravitelstva pr. Rudaki 80 steps to prevent torture and other ill-treatment in the early stages of detention. However Amnesty International believes 734023 Dushanbe TAJIKISTAN that a number of specific additional measures are needed to ensure that torture and other ill-treatment in pre-trial deten- Email: mail@president.tj tion are brought to an end in practice. Such measures include Salutation: Dear President Rakhmon ensuring that key safeguards against torture are implemented, Minister of Internal Affairs such as access to a lawyer. The Criminal Procedural Code R. Rahimov stipulates that detainees are entitled to a lawyer as soon as Tekhron Street, 29 they are detained, but, in practice lawyers are at the mercy of 734025 Dushanbe police investigators who can deny them access for many days. TAJIKISTAN During this period of incommunicado detention, the risk of Fax: 011 992 372 21 26 48 torture and other ill-treatment is particularly high. Amnesty Salutation: Dear Minister Internationals research indicates that torture and other illCopies To treatment are particularly prevalent in to the case of people Minister of Foreign Affairs detained on charges relating to national security. H. Zaripov For further information see the report: 42 Rudaki Avenue Shattered Lives: Torture and other Ill-treatment in Tajikistan 734051 AI Index EUR 60/004/2012 and briefing No Justice, No ProDushanbe tection: Torture and Other Ill-treatment by Law Enforcement TAJIKSTAN Officials in Tajikistan AI Index EUR 60/005/2012 Email: info@mfa.tj Ambassador Abdujabbor Shirinov, Please write immediately in Tajik, Russian, English or your Embassy of the Republic of Tajikistan own language: 1005 New Hampshire Avenue, NW, Urge the authorities to ensure that the individual being held Washington DC 20037 as a suspect for the murder of the Presidents brother-in-law Fax: 1 202 223 6091
Action

is protected from torture and other ill-treatment, order a prompt, independent investigation into allegations that he has been tortured and bring those responsible to justice; Urge them to ensure that he is examined promptly by an independent doctor and the results provided to his lawyer and family; Express concern that he was not allowed to see his lawyer between 16 and 21 July and urge them to ensure that he is interrogated only in the presence of his lawyer; Urge the authorities to take immediate measures to protect his family.

AIUSA group 48 Newsletter August 2012 Pg 7

Tel: 1 202 223 6090 Email: tajikistan@verizon.net Alternate Email: tjusconsulate@verizon.net

Please check with the AIUSA Urgent Action Office if sending appeals after the above date.

CHINA: Urgent Action - Chinese Housing Activists Sentences Upheld, Prisoners of conscience, Freedom of expression, Fear if ill-treatment
Ni Yulan (f) and Dong Jiqin (m)
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peaceful human rights and legal aid activities and considers them prisoners of conscience. The couples daughter, who was able to attend the appeal hearing, is under police surveillance.
Additional Information

Lawyers are increasingly in the forefront of human rights activism in China as more and more people turn to the law to push for democracy and basic rights. The Chinese governments response has been uncompromising. Human rights lawyers are subject to increased silencing tactics - from suspension or revoking of licenses, to harassment, enforced n 27 July, a Beijing court overturned the sentence of housing rights activist and former lawyer Ni Yulan on a fraud disappearance or even torture. This persecution has kept the charge. However, the court upheld her and her husband Dong number of human rights lawyers down. Out of more than Jiqins sentences for picking quarrels and provoking trouble, 204,000 lawyers in China, only a brave few hundred risk taking on cases that deal with human rights. criminalized in Article 293 of Chinas Criminal Law.

On 10 April, Ni Yulan was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison for picking quarrels and provoking trouble and fraud. Her husband Dong Jiqin was sentenced to two years for picking quarrels and provoking trouble. They had been detained in April 2011 and were tried in December 2011. They appealed their sentences, and on 27 July, Beijing Shijinshan No. 1 Intermediate Peoples Court heard their appeal.

Ni Yulan worked as a lawyer for 18 years. She took on many politically sensitive cases of petitioners and other people protesting the demolition of their homes.

This is the third time Beijing police have held Ni Yulan for an extended period of time. In 2002, as Ni Yulan was filming the demolition of a Beijing home, authorities took her to a nearby police station and tortured her for several days, breaking her feet and her kneecaps. Her injuries were so severe that she Ni Yulan appeared to be in better health than during her remains in a wheel chair. When Ni Yulan attempted to first trial in December 2011 which she spent mostly lying down, needing a respirator to breathe. Now she was able to sit petition the authorities about the beatings, she was arrested, throughout the hearing although she appeared to have swell- convicted of obstructing official business, and sentenced to one year in prison. When convicted, she also lost her profesing in her neck. According to her lawyers, she is malnoursional license to practice law. Dong Jiqin was barred from ished in prison. Ni Yulan suffers from respiratory, heart and digestive problems, and cannot walk, due to previous police attending her trial. torture. When Ni Yulan was released in 2003, she continued fighting Because Ni Yulans sentence for fraud was overturned, her for the rights of people whose homes faced demolitions ahead sentence is now two years and six months in prison. Dong of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In 2008, just before the OlymJiqins sentence remains as before. Amnesty International be- pics, Ni Yulan was arrested and imprisoned for two years lieves that the couple has been targeted because of Ni Yulans

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after trying to stop the demolition of her own home. While in prison, she was tortured and suffered from other ill- treatment. She was also denied adequate medical care. Upon her release from prison in April 2010, Ni Yulan and Dong Jiqin were homeless. They lived in a hotel before police forced them onto the street and blocked them from renting accommodation or even staying with friends. In June 2010, after dozens of supporters held a demonstration in solidarity with Ni Yulan and Dong Jiqin, police moved the couple into Beijings Yuxingong Guesthouse. However, the authorities continued to subject them to surveillance and other forms of harassment, including cutting off their water and electricity supply, as well as their Internet access. While living in the guesthouse Ni Yulan continued to stay in touch with activists, lawyers, and journalists and to publicize human rights abuses on her microblog. In his 2010 film, Emergency Shelter, documentary maker He Yang brought widespread attention to Ni Yulans persecution. Please write immediately in English, Chinese or your own language: Calling on the authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Ni Yulan and Dong Jiqin; Urging them to guarantee that the couple are not tortured or otherwise ill-treated whilst they remain in detention; Calling on the authorities to ensure that they have access to their families, legal representation of their choice, adequate food, and any medical care they may require.
Appeals To Action

Minister of Justice of the Peoples Republic of China WU Aiying Buzhang Sifabu 10 Chaoyangmen Nandajie Chaoyangqu, Beijingshi 100020 Peoples Republic of CHINA Fax: 011 86 10 6529 2345 Email: pfmaster@legalinfo.gov.cn Salutation: Dear Minister Premier WEN Jiabao Guojia Zongli The State Council General Office 2 Fuyoujie, Xichengqu, Beijingshi 100017, Peoples Republic of CHINA Fax: 011 86 10 6596 1109 (c/o Ministry of Foreign Affairs) Salutation: Your Excellency Ambassador Zhang Yesui, Embassy of the Peoples Republic of China 3505 International Place, NW, Washington DC 20008, USA Fax: 1 202 495-2138 Email: chinaembpress_us@mfa.gov.cn Please check with the AIUSA Urgent Action Office if sending appeals after the above date. Postage Rates
Within the United States $0.31 - Postcards $0.45 - Letters and Cards up to 1 oz. To Canada $0.80 - Postcards $0.80 - Airmail Letters and Cards up to 1 oz. To Mexico $0.84 - Postcards $0.84 - Airmail Letters and Cards up to 1 oz. To all other destination countries $1.05 - Postcards $1.05 - Airmail Letters and Cards up to 1 oz.

Copies To

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 7 SEPTEMBER 2012 Director of the Beijing Public Security Bureau Fu Zhenghua Juzhang Beijingshi Gonganju 9 Dongdajie, Qianmen Dongchengqu, Beijingshi 100740 Peoples Republic of CHINA Fax: 011 86 10 6524 2927 Salutation: Dear Director

AIUSA group 48 Newsletter August 2012 Pg 9

NIGERIA: Oil spill investigations a fiasco in the Niger Delta

Audrey Gaughran, Director of Global Issues at Amnesty International

The investigation process into oil spills in the Niger Delta

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has been challenged today by Amnesty International and the Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development (CEHRD), as inconsistencies in Shells claims about sabotage were revealed. Experts have examined evidence from the latest oil spill from Shells poorly maintained pipelines in the Bodo creek area and confirmed that it strongly indicates that the leak is due to corrosion of the pipeline. However, Shell appears to be ignoring the evidence of corrosion.

Shell have said locally that the spill looks like sabotage, and they completely ignore the evidence of corrosion. This has generated a lot of confusion and some anger in the community, said Stevyn Obodoekwe, Director of Programmes at CEHRD. We have seen the pipe and brought an expert to look at it, and it seems pretty clear it is corroded. When Amnesty International contacted Shells headquarters to ask for evidence to support the claim of sabotage in Bodo, Shell said the company has not claimed that the cause of the spill was sabotage and the joint investigation has not been completed. However Shell could not explain the statements made locally to the community. Shell has claimed that the joint investigation team, which includes community members, the regulators, Shell staff and representatives of the police and Joint Task Force, was not able to complete the oil spill investigation because local youths threw stones at them. Witnesses on site say that they did not see any such incident and that the security services were present during investigation.

Shell will now remove the affected length of pipe to a Shell faThe investigation process into oil spills in the Niger Delta is a cility where, according to the company, tests will be done. The fiasco. There is more investment in public relations messaging community and local environment and human rights activists than in facing up to the fact that much of the oil infrastrucare afraid that this process totally under the control of Shell ture is old, poorly maintained and prone to leaks some lacks transparency and the outcome will not be credible. of them devastating in terms of their human rights impact, said Audrey Gaughran, Director of Global Issues at Amnesty Shells pipelines are old and many have not been properly International. No matter what evidence is presented to Shell maintained or replaced, with local people and NGOs reportabout oil spills, they constantly hide behind the sabotage ex- ing that the pipes in the Bodo area have not been replaced cuse and dodge their responsibility for massive pollution that since 1958. When Amnesty International asked Shell to is due to their failure to properly maintain their infrastructure confirm the age and status of the pipes the company did not respond. and make it safe, and to properly clean up oil spills. One year ago, the United Nations Environment Programme Amnesty International and CEHRD asked US company, Ac(UNEP) issued a major report on the effects of oil pollution cufacts, which has many years experience in examining oil in the Ogoniland region of the Niger Delta. Little has changed, infrastructure, to examine photographs of the pipe at the leak as this latest oil spill at Bodo demonstrates. Among its findpoint. They stated: This is apparently due to external corings, UNEP confirmed that Nigerian regulatory agencies are rosion. Notice the layered loss of metal on the outside of the at the mercy of oil companies when it comes to conducting pipe around the "stick" from pipe wall loss (thinning) due to site inspections. UNEP also found that Shell had failed to external corrosion. It is a very familiar pattern that we have adhere to its own standards in relation to maintaining its seen many times on other pipelines." infrastructure.

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Years of bad practice with regard to oil spill investigations have left communities highly distrustful of the process and outcomes, said Stevyn Obodoekwe. "Shell has never addressed evidence of bad practice in the oil spill investigation process, of which the situation at Bodo is one more example. Spills can be attributed to sabotage when they are in fact due to corrosion and Shell knows this has occurred in the past. Thousands of oil spills have occurred in the Niger Delta since the oil industry began operations in the late 1950s. Corrosion of the pipes and equipment failure were responsible for the majority of spills. In recent years sabotage, vandalism and theft of oil have also contributed to pollution. However, corrosion and equipment failure remain very serious problems which have never been addressed. Oil companies are respon-

sible for ensuring that, as far as possible, their equipment is not vulnerable to tampering. However, Shell has not responded to request to for information on any measures it has taken to prevent sabotage and vandalism. On 3 August Amnesty International and CEHRD published a report on an oil investigation at Bodo in June/July 2012. The report focuses on the lack of transparency in the process and the failure of shell to disclose any information on the condition or age of its pipes. Since 2011 Shell has posted oil spill investigation data on its website. This move was welcomed by Amnesty International and CEHRD. However, as research by both organizations has made clear, the process on the ground remains highly problematic, and there is a lack of independence and transparency in the investigations themselves.

Postage

AIUSA group 48 Newsletter August 2012