Settlement Reached in Wiwa V. Shell

This afternoon, Riptide Communications issued a press release stating that Shell settled with the plaintiffs in the Wiwa v. Shell case for a total of $15.5 million USD.

That amount will be distributed amongst 10 plaintiffs, will cover some of the legal costs they incurred, AND establish a trust fund for the Ogoni people whose communities have been decimated by Shell’s actions in the Ogoniland region of Nigeria.

Now I’m not too good with numbers, but $15 million (about a million for every year the plaintiffs have been fighting for justice) seems a pretty pitiful sum when Shell’s most recently reported profits exceeded $31 billion USD for the past fiscal year alone. And while this figure represented a decline in the company’s profit margins compared to past years, its profit, when calculated by the hour, exceeded $4 million USD.

Yep.

$4 million every hour.

Shame on you, Shell.

While attorneys for the plaintiffs acknowledge–and rightfully so–that the settlement is a meaningful sign of the company’s acknowledgment of the human rights abuses it has perpetrated, $15 million hardly seems adequate apology.