From Rossport to Nigeria

[marian farrell]

Dear friends,

we'd like to invite you to attend a meeting on Friday October 14th to discuss the human rights situation in Rossport, Co. Mayo where people has been resisting for over a decade the plans of Shell Oil to build an on shore refinery on their land without the consent of the community.
They still need any suport they can get, as once Shell finish to build the pipe carring high pressure raw gas from the sea on shore, their livelihood will be in permananent danger.
Shell doesn't care about people, they totally wrecked the lives of the people in the Niger Delta and other places in the world. Let's prevent them doing the same in Ireland.
Please lend your support and forward on.
Thanks.

Best Regards,
Derry-Rossport Solidarity Campaign

Friday, October 14th, 7.30pm  

Unison Building, Clarendon St, Derry  

'HUMAN AND ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS: From Rossport to Nigeria'

OPEN MEETING AND DISCUSSION EVENING

With Sr Majella McCarron & Donal O’Mearain (TABLE) & Terence Conway (Rossport Campaign)

  
In 1995, execution of poet and human rights activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other activists unleashed international outrage over the situation in the Niger Delta.  In 1995, Ken Saro-Wiwa and 13 other campaigners for the rights of Ogoni people in their struggle against Shell were subjected to a secret tribunal that, based on unsubstantiated allegations, sentenced nine of the men to death by hanging. All nine were summarily executed without any opportunity for appeal.  Long time friend of Saro-Wiwa and human rights campaigner, Majella McCarron, will visit Derry on October 14th as part of her life long commitment to building awareness, solidarity and support for environmental and human rights.   Sr Majella who lived in the Niger Delta for many years was at one time refused re-entry to Nigeria due to her outspoken criticism of Shell. 
 

 The meeting aims to raise awareness of the environmental and human rights breaches resulting from the actions of multi national oil and gas companies in Ireland, Nigeria and beyond.   Sr Majella will be joined by her colleague and human rights observer from the Table Project, Donal O'Mearain and also by Terence Conway from Rossport in County Mayo.   Terence has been part of a decade long struggle against Shell in which several campaigners have been jailed and a small community has supported blockades, protests, non-violent direct action and hunger strikes in one of the longest running and most controversial campaigns in the history of the state.   On the night, Terence will give an insight in to what is happening in the campaign right now and why the community continues to oppose the pipeline on the grounds of health, safety and environment. 

 

Speakers will highlight how the tactics being used by police, by Government and by the company in Mayo are markedly similar to what the company has done in other regions, including the Niger delta.   And with ‘fracking’ being initiated in Fermanagh, oil and gas exploration being carried out off Rathlin and several multinational companies exploring off the Donegal coastline; the meeting is an opportunity for people to find out more about the practices of multi national companies and their record in relation to environmental damage and human rights abuses and be better prepared to protect fundamental human and environmental rights.  

 

For further information or comment

Paula Leonard

Mob : [phone] begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            086 1722953      end_of_the_skype_highlighting

 

Fracking is a highly controversial method of extracting gas from underground reserves which poses huge environmental risks and has been banned in France and elsewhere.    

 

Table, a non- funded initiative of civil society, has its origin in The Table Campaign initiated by Action from Ireland (AfrI) during the mid-Nineties. In that capacity it made its reports on parade monitoring in the North widely available and was in regular contact with the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs in relation to Human Rights practice on the ground. It also 'observed' related court cases and made a contribution to the Criminal Review Board in the North.   Table work in Mayo continues what was a Report of an International Fact-finding Delegation in 2007 led by Global Community Monitor (US), Friends of the Earth England, Ireland and Wales, Friends of the Earth Netherlands, Groundwork South Africa, Friends of the Earth International.

 

Sr Majella has been instrumental in ensuring that Table Observers have been in place in Mayo,  focusing on compliance with the  UN/EU Conventions on Human Rights as they apply to the right to protest and the quality of police presence in the area at this time.    Earlier this year Amnesty also appointed an observer to the Erris Area.      In its work on The Right to Protest, Table refers to Articles 8, 9,10,11 of the European Convention on Human Rights and continues to document the treatment by Gardai, the Courts and the State of those who continue to campaign against Shell's involvement in their community.   

 

This meeting is open to the public and is being organised by a non-aligned group of individuals concerned about human and environmental rights and in raising awareness about these issues as they apply to oil and gas exploration.