Lessons learned in community spirit – a Moldovan visits Kenya

Victoria Apostol, of Promo-LEX Association from the Republic of Moldova, recently visited Kenya on a study exchange organized through MRG’s Global Advocacy Programme. Here she reports back on the minority communities she visited and the valuable lessons learned during her trip.

Learning from others could become a universally recognized solution for the problems faced by many minorities around the world. Exchanging thoughts, ideas, opinions, and even business cards, represents an important and necessary step in promoting and maintaining diversity in this modern world.

Not as simple as it sounds. But learning and exchanging are two processes which require attention, passion and good intentions. Over seven days, myself and four other friends from European organizations had the pleasure to be involved in such a process through a study visit to Kenya, organised by Minority Rights Group International.

Kenya is an amazing and interesting country from a social and cultural point of view; home to a rich diversity of minority communities, all trying to build a democratic country through involving themselves in promoting and protecting minority rights. Additionally, the new Kenyan constitution represents a myriad of new opportunities for the inclusion of the country’s citizens, and in particular for minorities.

Victoria visits Kenya

It all sounds good, however in practice to realise their rights provided for in the new Constitution minority communities need first of all to be involved in elections, not only as voters, but also as electoral candidates. In this sense, we were lucky enough to have the opportunity to observe and participate in preparatory meetings during our trip, which aimed to inform minority communities about their rights according to the new constitution, and how they should take part in the election process.

We visited three communities: Endorois, Ogiek and Maasai. Each of them is unique, but on the other hand, all of them are minorities and have common needs as such.

Endorois land was originally appropriated by the Kenyian government in the 1970s to create the Lake Bogoria National Reserve. The fact that they were evicted from their land affected their life-style and livelihood. Therefore, the main issue for this community is land rights. However, they try to improve their own situation through different socio-economic initiatives and are not waiting around for the state to help them. For example we visited an Endorois honey factory which has double importance for the community. On the one hand it is a source of employment, and on the other it provides an income for all 15 members of the community involved.

The Ogiek community, who live in the Mau forest, near to Nakuru, was the second place we visited. Ogiek are a traditional forest dwelling people, who were also driven from their homes by both the British colonial and Kenyan governments, in order to log the forests and make way for agricultural projects.

We visited two Ogiek schools, both of which are financially supported by parents who farm for a living, whilst most of the teachers work voluntarily. The school buildings are small and rudimentary, but this aspect doesn’t stop the children going to school. Education is of great importance for the Ogiek community, but still there are things which need to be improved. The schools do not have a proper libary, nor enough books, whilst space for school activities is limited.

Victoria with a Maasai woman

The Maasai from Magadi live in one of the hottest places in Kenya, meaning access to water is a real issue for them. This community is distant from any towns which also creates some difficulties in terms of access to health and other services. What struck me most about the visit to the Maasai was how the community endeavours to empower women through community-based activities. For example, women are organized as a distinct group, addressing issues concerning them directly. One of them was even appointed as a community leader, a major breakthrough in this male-dominated traditional culture, while the majority of women are no longer afraid to speak out about their problems.

All these things impressed me in a special way. I enjoyed discovering Kenya and learning from minorities what it means to work in a community; to share the spirit of collectivity; to find the power and strength to fight against cruel injustices; to be optimistic and to exercise democracy together by knowing our rights as minorities and claiming those rights.

The experience was incomparable for me. I realised how wrong it is to assume something about another culture before fully understanding it. Most of all the study visit brought to my attention the many things which we Europeans could learn from African communities, not least for instance how we should appreciate more the education we receive, despite the conditions under which we sometimes study.

I left Kenya wishing to be back as soon as possible to discover more about this country, and more importantly, it set my mind to thinking how I can do something concrete in support of its minority communities.

Corporate irresponsibility in the Niger Delta

Natasha Horsfield, MRG’s Research/Publications Intern, sees the case brought against oil giant Shell by Nigeria’s Ogoni people as a reflection of wider corporate abuse of minority and indigenous rights around the globe.

On 28th February 2012, the US Supreme Court will rehear a landmark case brought against Royal Dutch Shell by 12 members of the Ogoni minority community of the Niger Delta, in which the Ogoni allege that Shell was complicit in serious human rights abuses committed against them by the Nigerian military regime in the early 1990’s. This case will determine whether corporations can be sued and held legally accountable for their complicity in human rights abuses, and if successful, will have important implications for the future of corporate accountability in the field of human rights.

The Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. case runs in companion to another case brought against the company by the Ogoni community in the name of prominent Ogoni activist and founder of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), Ken Saro-Wiwa, and his 8 companions, for Shell’s alleged complicity in their extrajudicial murders in 1995 by the same regime. Shell, whilst denying any complicity, settled the case in 2009 with a ‘humanitarian gesture’ of US$ 15.5 million. Shell has also been named in several other law suits relating to the impact of the company’s extractive activities on the rights of minority and indigenous communities, including the Tar Sands project in Canada, termed a ‘slow industrial genocide’ by the first nation communities affected.

Site of the first oil well in the Niger Delta, drilled by Shell in 1956. Credit: Rhys Thom.

The Ogoni people are no stranger to run-ins with this oil giant. In addition to the company’s connection to the abuses suffered by the Ogoni at the hands of the former military regime, the ongoing pollution in Ogoniland caused by Shell’s oil extraction activities have had disastrous impacts on the environment and health of the Ogoni for decades.

In August 2011, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) released a report on the effects of oil pollution in Ogoniland in the Niger Delta, home to the Ogoni people. The report concluded that Shell had consistently failed to clean up oil pollution effectively in the area, severely affecting the health and livelihoods of the Ogoni people. At the same time last year, Shell admitted liability in a court case for two major oil spills which occurred near the Delta town of Bodo, Ogoniland in 2008, and which have since destroyed the livelihoods of many locals. UNEP also reported that the scale of pollution in Ogoniland is so extensive that it will take at least a quarter of a century to reverse its effects, and consequently recommended the creation by the Nigerian government of an Environmental Restoration Fund of US$ 1 Billion to begin the clean up process.

Oil pollution in the Niger Delta has destroyed the livelihoods of minority groups across the oil-rich region. Credit: Sosialistisk Ungdom - SU

The Ogoni people have been opposed to the devastation which the oil industry has brought to their land and livelihoods for decades, and in 1993 Shell was expelled from Ogoniland following protests by Ogoni communities over the disastrous impact which oil extraction had on their land. Although Shell has not directly extracted oil from Ogoniland since the expulsion, its infrastructure remains and continues to be used to transport oil across Ogoniland, resulting in the continued suffering for the Ogoni people.

The level of oil pollution in Ogoniland and the resulting rights violations inflicted on the Ogoni people is also synonymous with the situation faced by the various minority groups across the oil-rich Niger Delta. In an area where over 60 per cent of the population relies on the environment for its livelihood, oil pollution has continued to destroy the means of survival of individuals and minority communities for many years.

However, despite Shell’s acceptance of liability and the findings of the UNEP report, the people of Bodo and wider Ogoniland are still awaiting the clean-up of oil pollution, or indeed the funding necessary for it to begin. Although the Nigerian government should not escape blame for its failure to regulate Shell’s activities in the area and protect the rights of the Ogoni people, Shell must bear a large portion of responsibility for its failure to prevent and respond satisfactorily to oil pollution, and is thus facing demands spearheaded by Amnesty International that it pay the full US$ 1 Billion needed to establish the clean-up fund.

The suffering the Ogoni people have experienced as a result of Shell’s interests and activities in their oil-rich land highlights the battle which many minority communities and indigenous people are currently facing with extractive industries around the world. As MRG’s 2012 annual report State of the World’s Minorities and Indigenous Peoples will report later this year, minorities and indigenous peoples on every continent are having their rights violated or their way of life destroyed at the hands of rapacious companies, often working in cahoots with the state. In many instances, both seek to profit from natural resource extraction but all too often escape accountability for their activities, which damage the lives of some of the most marginalised communities. In recognition of this, the theme of MRG’s 2012 publication will be natural resources with a focus on the role of extractive industries in human rights abuses.

It waits to be seen if Shell will answer international calls to fund the cleanup of the damage it has caused in Ogoniland and if the company is held accountable for the violations it has inflicted on the Ogoni people. If this is the case, then the implications this could have on corporate responsibility to respect the rights of minorities and indigenous peoples around the world who are adversely affected by extractive industries will be ever more pertinent.