Amnesty International Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SEPTEMBER 7, 2005, 11:00 AM

Amnesty International Investigation: ExxonMobil-led Oil Deal Threatens Law, Justice through World Bank-Sanctioned Contracts; Abuses Already Reported in Chad and Cameroon at Start of 70-year Pipeline Project

AI Urges ExxonMobil, Governments of Chad and Cameroon to Amend Agreements on Pipeline -- the Largest Commercial Investment in Africa -- To Protect Human Rights and Hold Corporations Accountable Under Law
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(Washington, D.C.) -- Amnesty International today urged the governments of Chad and Cameroon and an ExxonMobil-led consortium to revise the legal agreements on the Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline -- the largest foreign investment project in Africa and backed by the World Bank -- to protect human rights and hold corporations accountable for their actions under local, national and international law.

"The current pipeline contracts, which have been sanctioned by the World Bank, virtually give the oil consortium license to operate outside the rule of law," said Mila Rosenthal, Director of the Business and Human Rights Program with Amnesty International USA. "These contracts limit countries from protecting human rights to preserve ExxonMobil's profits. The World Bank must demand that the ExxonMobil-led consortium and the governments of Chad and Cameroon immediately amend the pipeline contracts. Human rights abuses linked to the pipeline have already been reported in Chad and Cameroon, and this 70-year project has just begun."

In a new report released today, "Contracting Out of Human Rights: The Chad-Cameroon Pipeline Project," Amnesty International outlines how the oil pipeline agreements threaten human rights and prevent Chadians and Cameroonians from obtaining justice for pipeline-related abuses. The report finds that the legal agreements governing the project place a 'price tag' on human rights by creating financial disincentives for the governments of these countries to protect human rights. Under the agreements, it is extremely difficult for Chad and Cameroon to punish company malpractice and for individuals adversely affected by the pipeline to obtain justice. Amnesty International's report also outlines how the legal agreements were kept secret and shielded from public scrutiny until after they were passed into law.

This investigation is part of a new Amnesty International effort to address how state-investor agreements impact international law, human rights and development.

"This report documents how the agreements between a state and a corporation -- largely hidden from public view -- can go even further than publicly acknowledged laws and treaties to constrain the government and cast a shadow over its legitimate activities," said Peter Rosenblum, Columbia University Law Professor of Human Rights and an advisor to AI on the report. "Amnesty International shows how the companies rely on contract provisions that insulate the project from the current and future laws of Chad and Cameroon and from the reasonable grievances of their populations. Respect for rights shouldn't rely on the discretion of ExxonMobil."

According to local NGOs, the operation of the oilfields and pipeline has already led to human rights abuses against many poor farmers in the Doba region of Chad, who were denied access to their land, which ExxonMobil refused either to compensate them for or to return to them. Several villages have reportedly been denied access to their sole safe water supply and the Kribi fishermen who work off Cameroon's coast have had their livelihoods seriously threatened by the pipeline. The project's contracts open the door for further similar abuses for the duration of the project. Meanwhile, critics of the pipeline, including journalists, have already been arrested and intimidated.

"This project must not continue without changes that guarantee that corporations will be held accountable and that the rule of law will be upheld," said Mulenga Trish Katyoka, Africa Advocacy Director for Amnesty International USA. "The people of Chad and Cameroon could pay the price for 70 years if these contracts aren't revised to protect human rights."

BACKGROUND: Since July 2003, a consortium of oil companies led by ExxonMobil has been extracting oil from the Doba oil fields in southern Chad and transporting it by pipeline to Cameroon's Atlantic coast. The Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline project is a sizable investment for the World Bank, which pledged that the project would bring development to Chad and Cameroon's people. But unless the oil pipeline contracts are revised to safeguard human rights, Amnesty International fears that the widespread corruption, conflict and human rights violations linked to resource extraction in other parts of Africa may be repeated in Chad and Cameroon. For example, in Nigeria, Africa's leading oil producer, the government's failure to protect human rights during oil exploration and production has fueled abuses, including seizure of land without adequate compensation and violence and intimidation to silence criticism. Protests under military governments in the early 1990s were suppressed with force, and the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other activists from the Ogoni ethnic group attracted worldwide condemnation of the role of the oil companies in human rights violations.

Download the full report in PDF format. »

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