Amnesty International UK
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Amnesty had paid for an advertisement to run in the latest issue of Financial Times that was supposed to be released the day of Shell's annual general meeting, but Amnesty learned at the last minute it was not going to run.
This is the same AGM where development of tar sands was also discussed and, to the dismay of just about everyone outside of Shell executives and shareholders, was allowed to continue. Amnesty received an email from FT the night before saying the magazine was not going to run the ad. If they gave a more elaborate explanation, Amnesty didn't make that public.
According to Amnesty, the advertisement focused on the "appalling human rights record of Shell in Nigeria. It compared the company’s $9.8bn profits with the consequences of pollution caused by the oil giant for the people of the Niger Delta."
In addition to blatant human rights abuses and the company's responsibility for the death of a Nigerian activist, Shell has implemented poor practices in the Niger Delta that have allowed oil spills to pollute water sources local communities rely on for drinking, and compromised the quality of agricultural land that they use for farming.
The Amnesty ad still ran in two newspapers the day of the meeting, but it's disappointing to hear that FT rejected a fully-paid-for (with the help of an online fundraiser) ad, while Shell's partners and shareholders continued to ignore the toll its company has taken on the Nigerian environment and population, and proceeded to allow the company to pursue methods of oil development that look to be even more destructive than the kind of drilling we've seen in the news lately.
To take action, follow what Amnesty is doing on the issue or other campaigns, like Oil Activism, that focus on Shell and other oil companies.
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