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Suit Alleging Firm Aided Genocide Proceeds - A Southern District of New York federal judge has refused to dismiss claims that a Canadian oil company abetted genocide by the government of Sudan against its own people. Talisman Energy Inc. had asked Judge Allen G. Schwartz to dismiss the case brought by plaintiffs who said the company was complicit in a campaign of kidnapping, rape, murder and land confiscation conducted by the government against non-Muslim residents who lived within a 50-mile radius of oil fields and transport systems. (Mark Hamblett, New York Law Journal, in New York Lawyer, 20 Mar. 2003)

ExxonMobil in Aceh [Indonesia] - In Aceh, where security concerns forced ExxonMobil's gas operations to close down for several months in 2001, a peace agreement between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), has been given a cautious welcome...For Acehnese living near the ExxonMobil operations in North Aceh, the deal will hopefully reduce the numbers of Indonesian troops stationed to guard the site, although post-Bali fears of terrorist attacks may well persuade ExxonMobil and Jakarta that current numbers should be maintained. This is the security force that stands accused of subjecting local people to torture, killings and disappearances, prompting a lawsuit against ExxonMobil in the US (Down to Earth Newsletter, Feb. 2003)

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Websites:

International Campaign against Impunity: A campaign committed to assisting the prosecution of high ranking public officials and companies accused of crimes against humanity, war crimes, genocide and torture

Other materials:

2003:

Suit Alleging Firm Aided Genocide Proceeds - A Southern District of New York federal judge has refused to dismiss claims that a Canadian oil company abetted genocide by the government of Sudan against its own people. Talisman Energy Inc. had asked Judge Allen G. Schwartz to dismiss the case brought by plaintiffs who said the company was complicit in a campaign of kidnapping, rape, murder and land confiscation conducted by the government against non-Muslim residents who lived within a 50-mile radius of oil fields and transport systems. (Mark Hamblett, New York Law Journal, in New York Lawyer, 20 Mar. 2003)

AGC accused of human rights violation [Ghana] - The Ashanti Goldfields Company is reportedly doing well but at what cost? Wassa Communities Affected by Mining (WACAM) says their rights are being violated. Below is the recently released report of a fact finding [includes reports of killings and pollution] (Public Agenda [Ghana], 24 Feb. 2003)

World Corporations Put Environmentalists Under Fire Worldwide - Amnesty International Campaigns for Corporate Accountability on Human Rights - In a new report released today, Amnesty International charges that corporate interests are inflicting a devastating worldwide toll on human rights and the environment. The report, Environmentalists Under Fire, cites the US for failing to use its influence to protect environmental defenders around the world, and highlights cases in Russia, Ecuador, Mexico, Indonesia, India, Chad and Cameroon...While environmental defenders can only appeal to the US government to live up to its rhetoric on rights, the corporations cited in the report - ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco, Occidental Petroleum and Freeport-McMoRan - have considerable ability to influence the US Government, having collectively made more than $2.8 million in campaign contributions during the 2002 election cycle. (Amnesty International USA, 20 Feb. 2003)

Colombia: ICFTU challenges President on the rise in anti-union violence - ICFTU General Secretary Guy Ryder has asked the President of Colombia to take action to protect human and trade union rights and to bring those who violate them to justice. (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, 7 Feb. 2003)

ExxonMobil in Aceh [Indonesia] - In Aceh, where security concerns forced ExxonMobil's gas operations to close down for several months in 2001, a peace agreement between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), has been given a cautious welcome...For Acehnese living near the ExxonMobil operations in North Aceh, the deal will hopefully reduce the numbers of Indonesian troops stationed to guard the site, although post-Bali fears of terrorist attacks may well persuade ExxonMobil and Jakarta that current numbers should be maintained. This is the security force that stands accused of subjecting local people to torture, killings and disappearances, prompting a lawsuit against ExxonMobil in the US (Down to Earth Newsletter, Feb. 2003)

2002:

10 December- International Human Rights Day: 151 trade unionists murdered in Colombia this year (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, 10 Dec. 2002)

Activists to petition UM [University of Montana] to end Coca-Cola contract [USA] - University of Montana students and community members will ask UM officials Thursday to end the school’s exclusive contract with Coca-Cola. The request is the result of Coca-Cola workers and union leaders being killed in Colombia, according to a release from three human rights organizations. (Donna Syvertson, The Missoulian [USA], 5 Dec. 2002)

press release: China: Internet users at risk of arbitrary detention, torture and even execution (Amnesty International, 26 Nov. 2002)

NGO Launches US Apartheid Reparations Law Suit [lawsuit in U.S. court against companies for past conduct in South Africa] - A non-governmental organisation has filed a lawsuit against 21 multinational corporations and leading international banks for helping prop up the apartheid state...The companies and banks named in the lawsuit are: Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase, Exxon Mobil, Caltex Petroleum, Fluor Corporation, Ford, General Motors and IBM in the United States; German-based Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, Dresdner Bank, DaimlerChrysler, and Rheinmetall; Credit Suisse and UBS in Switzerland; Barclays Bank; British Petroleum, Rio Tinto and Fujitsu ICL in the United Kingdom; Total-Fina-Elf from France and Royal Dutch Shell from the Netherlands.  The list was expected to grow by at least 100 names. (South African Press Association, 12 Nov. 2002)

DRC: Rights group denounces abuses in diamond fields - The human rights group Amnesty International has denounced abuses, including summary executions, which it says are taking place in the diamond fields in government-held parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (IRIN - U.N. Integrated Regional Information Networks, 23 Oct. 2002)

Woes of women in work [Bangladesh] - Some 51 women workers of different factories and institutions were sexually abused, five of them were brutally killed after rape in the first six months of this year in the country. Disclosing a recent report prepared by Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS) on the basis of reports published in 12 national dailies, executives of the BILS told a press conference yesterday that of the total rape victims, 31 were garment workers, 10 housemaids, three were workers of fish processing units, two NGO workers and five of other sectors. (Independent [Bangladesh], 1 Oct. 2002)

Shell faces litigation - Fourteen individual plaintiffs filed a class action suit [in a U.S. court] against Royal Dutch Petroleum and Shell Transport, plc, on September 20 for alleged human rights abuses in Ogoniland, Nigeria...the complaint alleges that Shell knowingly instigated, planned and facilitated in unprovoked attacks by the former Nigerian military government against the unarmed residents of Ogoniland, resulting in murder and gross human rights abuses. (Tomorrow: Your sustainable business toolkit, 26 Sep. 2002)

Court Tells Unocal to Face Rights Charges - An appellate court said today that the Unocal Corporation must face a trial in the United States over claims of human-rights abuses involving villagers in Myanmar who worked on the company's $1.2 billion pipeline there. (Bloomberg News, in New York Times, 18 Sep. 2002)

Families file $100 trillion suit against Sudan, Saudis, claiming they financed Sept. 11 attack - The suit was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., on behalf of some 600 families. It seeks "an amount in excess of $100 trillion" and charges the defendants with racketeering, wrongful death, negligence and conspiracy...The complaint names more than seven dozen defendants, including the government of Sudan, seven banks, eight Islamic foundations and three Saudi princes. Those listed include... Khalid bin Salim bin Mahfouz of the National Commercial Bank and the Faisal Islamic Bank. (Laurie Kellman, Associated Press, 16 Aug. 2002)

UNI's Protest letter to the Brasilian president over the death of a trade unionist [Bartolomeu Morais da Silva, of the Federation of Agricultural Workers of Para] (UNI - Union Network International, 6 Aug. 2002)

KCTU Demands Justice for Workers - Deaths [South Korea] - An umbrella labor group yesterday demanded the government take decisive actions to bring justice for 10 workers [including Park Chang-su, union leader of Hanjin Heavy Industries...found dead outside a hospital on May 6, 1991] who died mysterious deaths during authoritarian regimes (Seo Soo-min, Korea Times, 6 Aug. 2002)

Letter of Protest: Brazil: trade unionist tortured to death [Bartolomeu Morais da Silva, of the Federation of Agricultural Workers of Para] (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, 24 July 2002)

Australian Embassy Inaction In Indonesia Shooting - The Mineral Policy Institute is today calling for an inquiry into why the Australian Embassy staff in Indonesia took no action after three separate shooting incidents by Indonesian security forces. The shootings left two people dead and five injured at the Mt Muro mine of Australian company, Aurora Gold. (Mineral Policy Institute, 7 July 2002)

Development Aggression: Observations on Human Rights Conditions in the PT Freeport Indonesia Contract of Work Areas With Recommendations [West Papua, Indonesia] - This paper is a presentation of observations, conclusions, and recommendations regarding human rights conditions in the PT Freeport Indonesia [majority owned and controlled by US-based mining company Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc] Contract of Work areas in Papua, Indonesia...The presentation below has been circumscribed by Freeport's lack of cooperation and other interference with the assessment process...Some of these violations - such as those caused by environmental destruction - are the direct by-products of Freeport's mining operations. Others - such as physical attacks - are the result of the illegal, indiscriminate, and/or disproportionate use of force against civilians by the Indonesian military and police providing security for and funded by Freeport. (Abigail Abrash, consultant for the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights, July 2002)

Colombia's Ecopetrol on strike after unionist murdered (PetroleumWorld, 19 June 2002)

Anti-union repression still on the rise worldwide - The ICFTU’s Annual Survey on trade union rights violations, which covers 132 countries and territories across the world, notes 223 cases of murdered or “disappeared” trade unionists in 2001 (i.e. 14 more than in 2000), with a terrifying record number of 201 assassinations or disappearances in Colombia alone. (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, 18 June 2002)

No end to the savagery in Colombia -...“It is clear to us,” said ICFTU General Secretary Guy Ryder, “ that despite repeated promises, forces linked to the government in Colombia have not ceased to target trade unionists.”...being involved in trade union activity in Colombia is tantamount to suicide; the 184 assassinations in 2001 and the steadily mounting total of 67 this year are testimony to that. (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, 13 May 2002)

Rights body may reopen probe into Marsinah case [Indonesia]: The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has uncovered enough new information to reopen the investigation into the 1993 slaying of female labor activist Marsinah...Labor activist Marsinah was found dead near Nganjuk, East Java, on May 9, 1993, after leading a strike at PT Catur Putra Surya, a watch factory in Sidoarjo, East Java. Her badly mutilated body showed signs of torture and rape. (Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak and Yogita Tahilramani, Jakarta Post, 20 Apr. 2002) 

Harvard Students Tell Coke: Stop the Killings - Global Entourage of Coca-Cola Union Workers Visit Campus to Share Stories - Coca-Cola workers from Colombia, Guatemala, the Philippines, Zimbabwe and the U.S. visited Harvard today to share their stories of kidnapping, torture and harassment of trade union members at Coca-Cola production, bottling and distribution centers. (International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 15 Apr. 2002)

Outcry as Another Colombian Union Leader Slain Amid Rising Tensions: International unions are denouncing last week's murder, apparently by right-wing paramilitary forces, of a union leader in a key oil-refining center, the northern city of Barrancabermeja, that has become Colombia's bloodiest urban battleground over the past two years. (Jim Lobe, OneWorld US, 28 Mar. 2002) 

Drummond says assassination suit effort to destroy Colombian jobs: Drummond Co., accused in a [U.S.] federal lawsuit of encouraging the assassination of three union leaders in Colombia, said the accusations are part of an effort to destroy jobs in that country...Drummond, in its statement, says it vehemently denies the allegations (Val Walton, Birmingham News [USA], 27 Mar. 2002)

Alabama coal giant is sued over 3 killings in Colombia:...Now the state's largest mining business, the Drummond Company, has been accused of encouraging the assassination of three union leaders at its giant coal mine in Colombia. (Steven Greenhouse, New York Times, 22 Mar. 2002)

Colombia: Union sues U.S. coal company: On March 14, the Union of Workers of the Mining and Energy Industry of Colombia (Sintramienergetica) filed a civil lawsuit in U.S. federal court in Birmingham, Alabama, against the Alabama-based Drummond mining company and its owner, Garry Drummond...Sintramienergetica charges the mining company with having hired rightwing paramilitaries to abduct, torture and kill three of the union’s leaders in 2001 as part of a plan to stop other Drummond employees from joining the union. (Americas.org, 17 Mar. 2002)

Assassinations of Juan Montiel and Emilio Villeras, two members of IUF Colombian affiliate SINTRAINAGRO [Colombia]: The IUF has just learnt of the killing of two banana workers: Juan Montiel and Emilio Villeras Durán, both from the Ceiba y Circasia plantations. Both were active in the local leadership of the IUF’s rural workers affiliate SINTRAINAGRO in the Department of Magdalena. (IUF - International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations, 9 Mar. 2002) 

Hoffa Tells Coke: Protect Your Workers - Teamsters President Urges Coke CEO to Resolve Global Human Rights Issues - James P. Hoffa, Teamsters General President, on Tuesday told Douglas N. Daft, Coca-Cola Company Chief Executive Officer, to protect workers who produce, bottle and distribute Coca-Cola products – including those in Guatemala where eight union leaders were assassinated in the late 1970s. Hoffa’s letter to Daft was prompted by problems between union workers in Guatemala and the bottling company PANAMCO, which also bottles Coke products in Colombia, where union workers have been tortured, kidnapped and murdered. (CokeWatch.org - Campaign for Justice at Coca Cola, 14 Feb. 2002)

The Coca-Cola Killings: Is Plan Colombia funding a bloodbath of union activists? (David Bacon, American Prospect, 28 Jan. 2002)

2001:

Colombia: an appalling death toll - with no sign of improvement - Nearly 160 trade unionists murdered since the beginning of the year (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, 21 Dec. 2001)

Colombian Admits Killing Unionist: A right-wing paramilitary militia on Saturday accused a slain union leader in Colombia of being a rebel commander and accepted responsibility for his killing. The body of Aury Sara, a regional leader of a militant oil workers union, and his bodyguard were found Wednesday (AP, 8 Dec. 2001)

Colombia: the massacre continues - In a letter sent on December 6 to Colombian President Andrès Pastrana, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) condemned in the strongest possible terms the assassination of Aury Sara Marrugo, President of the Bolivar-based trade union, ‘Union Sindical Obrera’ (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, 6 Dec. 2001)

It's the real thing—murders at Coke [Colombia: regarding the case brought in U.S. court alleging Coca Cola, Panamerican Beverages & Bebidas y Alimentos were complicit in the assassination of Colombian union leaders] (David Bacon, Labor Advocate Online, 24 Nov. 2001)

{···français} Elf est poursuivie pour son soutien au président congolais Sassou Nguesso [Republic of Congo]: Une plainte a été déposée à Bruxelles pour complicité de crimes - La société TotalFinaElf est citée au côté de l'ancien président du Congo-Brazzaville Denis Sassou Nguesso dans une plainte pour "crimes contre l'humanité" commis pendant la guerre civile de 1997 [download under heading Total Fina Elf (II)] (Le Monde, 18 Oct. 2001)

Another Colombian Union Leader Murdered - Death of Gustavo Soler adds to long list of unpunished crimes: Gustavo Soler, President of the El Paso section of the energy workers' union Sintramienergética, has been murdered in Colombia. His death adds one more name to the long list of Colombians slain for defending workers' rights. Labour activists are among the most frequent targets for assassination in Colombia - mainly by right-wing death squads, and sometimes also by guerrilla movements. (ICEM [International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions], 12 Oct. 2001)

{···français} Coca-Cola accusé d'assassinat syndical: «Une campagne de terreur» dénoncée en Colombie. (Fabrice Rousselot, Libération [France], 21-22 juillet 2001)

Coca-Cola sued over bottling plant 'terror campaign': Coca-Cola's bottling plants in Colombia used rightwing death squads to terrorise workers and prevent the organisation of unions, it was alleged in a Miami court yesterday. The US union United Steelworkers is suing Coca-Cola on behalf of the Colombian union Sinaltrainal for what the lawsuit describes as "the systematic intimidation, kidnapping, detention and murder" of workers in Colombian plants.  Coca-Cola denied any responsibility for the alleged atrocities yesterday, saying the company did not own the bottling plants, which operated under contract. (Julian Borger, Guardian [UK], 21 July 2001)

Coke sued over death squad claims: Trade union leaders in the United States have said they are suing the soft-drinks company Coca-Cola for allegedly hiring right-wing death squads to terrorise workers at its Colombian bottling plant. A spokesman for Coca-Cola in Atlanta said its Colombian bottling plants were run by business partners and denied any wrongdoing by the company. (BBC, 20 July 2001)

Colombian union suing Coca-Cola in death squad case: Coca-Cola Co.'s Colombian bottlers are working with death squads to kill, threaten and intimidate plant workers, a labor union charged in a federal lawsuit to be filed Friday in Miami.  Coca-Cola, which is named as a defendant, immediately dismissed the racketeering lawsuit, which claims two bottling companies have ties to right-wing paramilitary groups believed responsible for assassinations of union members. (Nick Rosen, Associated Press, in Miami Herald, 20 July 2001) 

{···español} Coca-Cola rechaza acusaciones sobre nexos con paramilitares: Voceros de la multinacional Coca Cola rechazaron ayer versiones que intentan asociar a la compañía con la contratación de paramilitares en Colombia.  El pronunciamiento se produjo luego de que el sindicato de trabajadores del acero y la Fundación para los Derechos Laborales anunciaran en Washington una demanda contra la multinacional por, supuestamente, acudir a grupos paramilitares para intimidar, secuestrar y asesinar a sindicalistas en Colombia. (El Tiempo [Colombia], 20 Julio 2001)

{···español} Demandan a Coca Cola por contratar a "paras":  La empresa norteamericana Coca-Cola recurre a agentes de seguridad paramilitares para asesinar, torturar y secuestrar a líderes sindicales de sus embotelladoras en Colombia, denunciaron ayer sindicatos y grupos de derechos laborales, que iniciarán una demanda judicial. (Agence France Presse, in El Colombiano [Colombia], 20 Julio 2001)

news release by plaintiffs (including download for copy of the complaint): Coca-Cola (Coke) to be sued for human rights abuses in Colombia (United Steel Workers and International Labor Rights Fund, 19 July 2001)

report: Human Rights Abuses with Small Arms: Illustrative cases from Amnesty International reports 2000 - 2001 - Thousands of people worldwide are killed every year by weapons categorized as ''small arms'' or ''light weapons'' — handguns, assault rifles, sub-machine and machine-guns, grenades, mortars, shoulder-fired missiles and landmines. Many more are injured. Most of the victims are unarmed civilians who find themselves in the path of rival armies or criminal gangs. Transnational networks of brokers, dealers, financiers and transporters are the key players in small arms markets, yet most states do not even register them, let alone require each of their deals to be licenced. (Amnesty International, 9 July 2001)

Protest Violence Against Embera Katio in Colombia! Following is an action alert issued by Amnesty Int'l on the recent murder of an indigenous activist fighting against the Urra Dam in Colombia. The Embera Katio community has faced kidnappings and attacks for its resistance to the project. (International Rivers Network, 6 July 2001)

Colombia: Mayday for trade unionists (Amnesty International, 1 May 2001)

2000:

Oil For Nothing: Multinational Corporations, Environmental Destruction, Death and Impunity in the Niger Delta (Essential Action and Global Exchange, Jan. 2000)

1999:

Deep in The Republic of Chevron (Norimitsu Onishi, Sunday New York Times Magazine, 4 July 1999)

The Price of Oil: Corporate Responsibility and Human Rights Violations in Nigeria's Oil Producing Communities (Human Rights Watch, Jan. 1999)

1998:

Colombia: Human rights concerns raised by the security arrangements of transnational oil companies (Human Rights Watch, Apr. 1998)

1997:

Running on Empty: Shell in Nigeria (NGO Taskforce on Business and Industry, 1997)

1996:

Shell has human rights rethink (Simon Beavis and Paul Brown, The Guardian [U.K.], 8 Nov. 1996)