Shell betuigt spijt mbt. Niger Delta
Den Haag, 27 maart 2010 – Vandaag deed de vice-president van de Ethical Affairs Committee, B. Houppe, namens Royal Dutch Shell een openbare spijtbetuiging jegens alle bewoners van de Niger Delta in Nigeria. Shell heeft besloten de verantwoordelijkheid te nemen voor de vele jaren van mensenrechtenschendingen in die regio die voortvloeiden uit de olie-exploitatie. Na de speech gingen ruim honderd medewerkers van het Ethical Affairs Committee de straat op om de spijtbetuiging bekend te maken aan het publiek.
Shell betuigt spijt, belooft beterschap en ruimt de vervuiling in de Niger Delta op
Den Haag, 27 maart 2010 – Vandaag deed de vice-president van de Ethical Affairs Committee, B. Houppe, namens Royal Dutch Shell een openbare spijtbetuiging jegens alle bewoners van de Niger Delta in Nigeria. Shell heeft besloten de verantwoordelijkheid te nemen voor de vele jaren van mensenrechtenschendingen in die regio die voortvloeiden uit de olie-exploitatie. Na de speech gingen ruim honderd medewerkers van het Ethical Affairs Committee de straat op om de spijtbetuiging bekend te maken aan het publiek.
Royal Dutch Shell zegt erg trots te zijn, omdat het de eerste internationale petrochemische industrie is die publiekelijk aangeeft spijt te hebben.
Meer informatie hierover is te vinden op de speciale website http://shellapologises.com/
Shell belooft hierbij het volgende:
1. Het nakomen van onze publieke verplichtingen ten aanzien van milieu en mensenrechten.
2. Het monitoren van de gevolgen voor milieu en mensenrechten van al onze activiteiten.
3. Het openbaarmaken van informatie en het opzetten van een respectvolle consultatie met de getroffen gemeenschappen.
4. Het opruimen van de verontreiniging die wij in de Niger Delta hebben veroorzaakt.
De speech van Bradford Houppe: 
“I am very pleased to announce today that there’s a new dawn rising at Shell. Today Shell announces a new program that leverages the power of truth and reconciliation about our past to build a sustainable future.
For many years, Shell has made public commitments to the environment and to human rights. But as many of you know, in some parts of the world we have not succeeded in honouring those commitments.
Our new CEO Peter Voser has used his first 100 days in office to lay the groundwork for genuine change in the way we do business. Under his leadership, we realized that to do what was right we first had to publicly admit what was wrong. For inspiration, we considered the South Africa’s truth and reconciliation process, which by making the horrors public was the first step to achieving real change.
So today, I am proud to say: we KNOW what we have done wrong. In the next two years we will be undergoing an extensive review of our past operations and fully disclosing all of our problems.
The reconciliation process will involve a series of public hearings here in The Hague, where we will solicit testimony from within and outside Shell that fully reveals the extent of our abuses.
And today, I am proud to say that we make a symbolic new start by saying to the people of the Niger Delta:
We are sorry!
We’re sorry for the oil spills that have made your rivers toxic.
We’re sorry for the gas flares that stink up your villages.
We’re sorry for the fact that you cannot drink your water.
We have had similar extraction operations in Alaska with little problem. We know there is a double standard, and that must end.
We are sorry!
I’d like to invite you all to Shell’s Annual General Meeting on Tuesday May 18 in The hague. We will begin our program there by presenting a comprehensive Plan of Action to clean up the Niger Delta.
Today we are also launching a new public relations campaign. The “I am Sorry” campaign will deploy street teams. and cross media advertising strategies to let the world know that Shell is different. Shell is better. And Shell is ultimately made of people. Smart people. Poeple who better than tot abuse the rights of others for short term profit, oeple who know better than to gamble the future of the planet.
I am very proud to be here making this announcement today.
Please join our street teams from the “I am Sorry” campaign outside our doors today. I am available for questions following this meeting.”
Bradford Houppe
Vice-President of the Ethical Affiars Committee
Royal Dutch Shell
