[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 149 (Thursday, November 10, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12692-S12693]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE RESOLUTION 303--CALLING FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA TO CONDUCT 
    A THOROUGH JUDICIAL REVIEW OF KEN SARO-WIWA CASE, AND FOR OTHER 
                                PURPOSES

  Mr. LEAHY (for himself, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Obama, Mr. Feingold, Mr. 
Dodd, and Mr. Durbin) submitted the following resolution; which was 
referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 303

       Whereas on November 10, 1995, Ken Saro-Wiwa, Nigerian 
     writer, environmental activist, and nominee for the Nobel 
     Peace Prize, along with 8 colleagues, together known as the 
     ``Ogoni 9'', were hanged by the military government of 
     Nigeria, based on charges widely regarded as false;
       Whereas the Ogoni 9 had been nonviolently campaigning for 
     improved living standards and a clean environment for the 
     Ogoni People, whose Niger Delta land, air, and water was, and 
     remains, severely polluted from oil extraction, and whose 
     standard of living, despite the great mineral wealth their 
     land has yielded since the early 1960s, is among the lowest 
     in the world;
       Whereas the international condemnation that followed the 
     executions included the suspension of Nigeria from the 
     British Commonwealth of Nations;
       Whereas in 1996 a United Nations mission to Nigeria found 
     the military tribunal in contravention of international and 
     domestic law, and recommended financial relief for the 
     survivors of the Ogoni 9 and improvements in the 
     socioeconomic conditions of the Ogoni and other minorities in 
     the Delta;
       Whereas 10 years later, none of the United Nations 
     recommendations have been implemented, and the environmental 
     and social situations have deteriorated for the Ogoni and 
     other Delta communities;
       Whereas the Ogoni 9 remain convicted of a crime of which 
     they were unfairly tried;
       Whereas Ogoniland remains severely polluted and gas flaring 
     continues unabated;
       Whereas the security and stability in the Niger Delta are 
     threatened by a proliferation of small arms, armed gangs, and 
     black market oil bunkering;
       Whereas despite these pressures, Ogoniland remains an 
     island of nonviolence, and the Ogoni voted in high numbers in 
     the 1999 elections;
       Whereas stability in the Niger Delta is necessary to 
     prevent an increase in global oil costs; and
       Whereas in the interest of the protection of human rights, 
     justice, and stability in the Delta, redress should be given 
     to the Ogonis and their use of nonviolent means should be 
     recognized: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) urges the Government of Nigeria to conduct a thorough 
     judicial review of the trial of the Ogoni 9 and to provide 
     just compensation to the survivors of the Ogoni 9 if a 
     miscarriage of justice is found;
       (2) urges the Government of Nigeria, international donors, 
     and international oil companies operating in the Delta to 
     increase assistance significantly to improve the lives of the 
     Ogoni and other affected communities and for pollution 
     abatement and cleanup in the Niger Delta region, in close 
     consultation with local communities;
       (3) urges the Government of Nigeria to ensure that all 
     members of the security forces receive training in 
     international standards on the use of force and firearms, 
     particularly the 1979 United Nations Code of Conduct for Law 
     Enforcement Officials and the 1990 United Nations Basic 
     Principles on the Use of Force and Fire Arms by Law 
     Enforcement Officials;
       (4) calls upon the Department of State to seek urgently to 
     ensure that American oil companies operating in the Niger 
     Delta comply, at a minimum, with the Voluntary Principles for 
     Security and Human Rights; and
       (5) urges the Secretary General of the United Nations to 
     institute a 10-year followup mission to Ogoniland.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, ten years ago today, in what was by all 
accounts a barbaric miscarriage of justice, Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight of 
his Ogoni colleagues from the delta region of Nigeria were hanged after 
being convicted by a biased military tribunal.
  Those of us who knew Mr. Saro-Wiwa remember him as a thoughtful, 
passionate, nonviolent advocate for the rights of the Ogoni people. His 
arrest, conviction and hanging by the corrupt and brutal Abacha 
government outraged the world and resulted in Nigeria's suspension from 
the British Commonwealth, and a United Nations investigation which 
concluded that Saro-Wiwa and his colleagues had been denied due process 
in violation of international and Nigerian law. The UN recommended 
financial relief for their families and improvements in the living 
conditions of the Ogoni people and the other minorities in the delta 
region.
  Unfortunately, none of the UN's recommendations have been carried 
out, the environmental, economic and social conditions there have 
gotten worse, and ten year's later the Ogoni Nine remain convicted of a 
crime for which they were unfairly tried.
  Today, I am honored to submit, on behalf of myself and Senators 
Kennedy, Obama, Feingold, Durbin, and Dodd a resolution calling on the 
Government of Nigeria to conduct a thorough judicial review of this 
travesty.
  By this resolution we remember Ken Saro-Wiwa and the others who were 
executed, and we honor their courage and their nonviolent commitment to 
social justice. In addition to calling for a judicial review and just 
compensation to the survivors if a miscarriage of justice is found, we 
urge the Nigerian government, international donors, and international 
oil companies operating in the Niger delta to increase assistance 
significantly to improve the lives of the people who live there. It is 
unconscionable that after all the billions of dollars in oil that have 
been extracted from that area, these people continue to suffer daily 
from the polluted water and soil and the gas flaring and are living in 
squalor.
  And we call on the Nigerian Government to ensure that its security 
forces receive the necessary training and discipline to prevent the 
violations of human rights that the Ogoni have suffered for so many 
years.
  The volatile situation in the Niger delta has been ignored for far 
too long. It cannot be resolved by force. It cannot be resolved by lip 
service. There are serious environmental issues and urgent economic and 
social needs. Ken Saro-Wiwa's example of nonviolence stands today as it 
did a decade ago as a model for the Nigerian government, the people of 
the Niger delta, and the international community to join together to 
finally address them.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I'm honored to join Senator Leahy, 
Senator Obama, Senator Feingold, Senator Dodd and Senator Durbin in 
submitting this tribute to one of the world's most courageous human 
rights and environmental activists, Ken Saro-Wiwa, on the tenth 
anniversary of his death.
  Mr. Saro-Wiwa was a champion of nonviolence for social and economic 
justice and the environment in the oil-rich communities of the Niger 
Delta. He was a voice for hundreds of thousands of persons suffering 
from government repression and corporate greed, and he raised global 
awareness of the need for more responsible environmental and social 
practices by the oil industry.
  On this day ten years ago, Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight of his Ogoni 
compatriots were unjustly put to death based on apparently trumped-up 
charges by an apparently biased Nigerian military tribunal. Their only 
crime was their courage in daring to speak out against the exploitation 
of the Ogoni environment and its people. Despite widespread 
international condemnation of the killings, Mr. Saro-Wiwa has not been 
cleared of the false charges, and environmental and social degradation 
persists in the Ogoni and other communities in the Niger Delta.
  The resolution that we are introducing today calls on the Nigerian 
Government to conduct a thorough judicial review of the military 
tribunal, and to pay compensation to the heirs of Mr. Saro-Wiwa and his 
colleagues if a miscarriage of justice is found. A United Nations 
mission to Nigeria in 1996 found such a violation and called for such 
relief. The resolution also calls for increased assistance to the

[[Page S12693]]

Ogoni people and for environmental support for the Niger Delta region. 
In addition, it calls for American oil companies operating in the Delta 
to follow more responsible social practices, and for the Government of 
Nigeria to ensure that its security forces are properly trained, so 
that nonviolent protest is never again met with violent repression.
  At a time when the Niger Delta is increasingly threatened by violence 
and instability from past failures to address these long-standing 
grievances, it is urgent that we honor the legacy of Ken Saro-Wiwa and 
the Ogoni people by seeking creative, nonviolent solutions to the 
environmental and social problems that plague the region. I urge my 
colleagues to support this resolution as an important step in that 
direction.

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