Former Shell executive accuses oil firms of ‘hypocrisy’ over human rights (UK)

[struggle4progress]

By Lianne Gutcher
Firms condemned for failing to back up ethical policies

... Paddy Briggs, who worked for Shell for 37 years before retiring in 2002, has criticised oil giants for continuing to be involved in countries accused of human rights abuses, despite issuing statements insisting they support those rights. Briggs cites Shell's involvement in China and Saudi Arabia, and Total's investment in Burma as examples of this hypocrisy.

In an article entitled The Myth Of Corporations' Commitments To Human Rights, written in advance of a speech he will give at a PR conference in Dubai next month, Briggs wrote: "The contradictions between rhetoric and actions have to be avoided. There is, frankly, no point in having your PR department issue commitments' on the one hand, while business managers go their own sweet way in ignoring these so-called assurances on the other." ...

Briggs illustrated his argument with examples from his time at Shell. In 1989, shortly after the bloodshed in Tiananmen Square, Shell launched a study into investing $1 billion (£500 million) in a petrochemical complex in southern China. The project was deemed feasible, and the Nanhai complex started commercial operations started last year ...

Updating his original piece last Friday, Briggs wrote: "Total in Burma or Shell in China or Saudi Arabia are active in these countries because they believe that future profit streams will accrue to them - to the benefit of shareholders. That these countries are high on the lists of pariah states according to Human Rights Watch and Amnesty is of no importance when stacked up against corporate greed ...

http://www.sundayherald.com/business/businessnews/display.var.1758255.0.former_shell_executive_accuses_oil_firms_of_hypocrisy_over_human_rights.php