Courthouse News Service | "Environmental activism in many countries results in murder," the petition from the prize winners states. "Chevron's strategy is death by a thousand cuts through the manipulation of a legal system it has managed to stack in its favor. Its goal is to intimidate and disempower the victims of its pollution and a lawyer who has worked for decades on...
Chevron
How a Human Rights Lawyer Went from Hero to House Arrest
Lawyer Steven Donziger helped win a $9.5 billion judgment for rain forest cleanup. Then Chevron hit back.
The Nation | "Steven is totally the opposite of how Chevron portrays him," said Luis Yanza of the Amazon Defense Coalition. "He's dedicated his life – a great part of his life – to defending people in our poor communities."
Anti-Chevron Lawyer Steven Donziger Gets Blessing for Return of His Law License
Courthouse News Service | "The extent of his pursuit by Chevron is so extravagant, and at this point so unnecessary and punitive, while not a factor in my recommendation, is nonetheless background to it," bar referee John Horan wrote.
How the Lawyer Who Beat Chevron Lost Everything
The Intercept | “He has effectively been convicted of bribery by the finding of a single judge in a case in which bribery wasn’t even the charge,” said Charles Nesson, an attorney and Harvard Law School professor.
Global Human Rights and Environmental Communities Condemn the House Arrest of U.S. Human Rights Lawyer Steven Donziger
Prominent organizations call for Donziger's immediate release and warn of chilling effect on other human rights lawyers who stand up to corporate polluters
"A human rights lawyer has been imprisoned in his own home for 100 days at the hands of the country's third largest corporation, and there has been very little attention to this chilling attack on his freedom," said Paul Paz y Miño of Amazon Watch.
Amazon Watch is building on more than 25 years of radical and effective solidarity with Indigenous peoples across the Amazon Basin.
Chevron's Legal Thuggery Run Amok
When corporations and U.S. judges team up to silence human rights advocates, we're all in danger
"The Chevron’s case rested on the paid testimony of a witness who was paid over $1 million. He admitted to changing his story multiple times, to sweetening his deal with Chevron. That was the star witness for Chevron in this case. I can’t think of any other case that I have worked on that I think is as great a travesty of justice to a particular...
Summer 2019 Investor Eye on the Amazon
A primer for shareholders concerned about rainforest protection and human rights
The Investor Eye on the Amazon provides an update on our campaigns targeting corporations with ties to dirty industry in the Amazon, and it aims to serve as a resource for socially-responsible investors, industry analysts, and researchers looking to better understand the risks associated with investment in extractive industries - and their own...
Chevron’s Corrupt Legal Practices Called Out by Leading Human Rights and Environmental NGOs
"It is also extremely concerning to us that Chevron has been able to leverage this apparently paid and largely false witness testimony to target the reputation of Mr. Donziger, who has worked for more than two decades with the affected communities in Ecuador to try to hold Chevron accountable for what is considered one of the worst oil-related...
Excessive Judicial Order Demanding That Steven Donziger Surrender His Passport
"Chevron, with Kaplan's help is trying to make an example of Donziger as part of its strategy to escape justice for the worst oil-related environmental crime in history. The human rights community stands together in defense of Mr. Donziger's right to travel and speak out and continue to advocate for his clients about the injustices of this case."
The Chevron Way: Admit Nothing. Deny Everything. Make Counter-accusations.
Every year, a larger band of human rights and environmental activists show up at the Chevron shareholders meeting to stubbornly speak truth to power. It's essential to do so, as this is the one time that the Chevron CEO, board, and senior management are forced to listen to us.
Chevron CEO Confronted at Annual Meeting
Five shareholder resolutions call on company to end its environmental destruction and rights abuses
"We will continue to denounce the crime that Chevron committed until it takes responsibility for the environmental damage for which Texaco – which merged with Chevron in 2001 – is wholly responsible. We want you to understand that we – the affected indigenous and campesino communities will not falter until we have achieved our goal that your...
Amazon Watch Statement on Canadian Supreme Court’s Refusal to Hear Appeal Regarding Chevron Subsidiary in Enforcement Action
"The Canadian Supreme Court's denial is an affront to the very idea of corporate accountability and a message to anyone seeking justice from corporations responsible for environmental or human rights crimes. It does not, however, grant Chevron any actual victory in the Ecuador matter."
Chevron vs Ecuador: International Arbitration and Corporate Impunity
The infamous story of the environmental pollution of the Ecuadorian Amazon by Chevron-Texaco – which has come to be known as the "Ecuadorian Chernobyl" – is entering a new phase
openDemocracy | "Justice as such does not exist, especially when the criminal is a transnational corporation and the victims are indigenous peoples, peasants, or nature."
Ecuador’s Corruption Hangover
Despite efforts to curb corruption, President Moreno is following the same oil-stained playbook that helped get Ecuador into a cycle of debt and dependency. He has green-lighted new drilling in Yasuní National Park and plans to open up areas in the country's roadless southern rainforest, still hoping that Ecuador can drill its way to prosperity.
Investor Eye on the Amazon
The Investor Eye on the Amazon provides an update on our campaigns targeting corporations with ties to dirty industry in the Amazon, and it aims to serve as a resource for socially-responsible investors, industry analysts, and researchers looking to better understand the risks associated with investment in extractive industries - and their own...
Amazon in Focus 2018
While the threats to the Amazon and indigenous peoples seem daunting at times, we cannot lose sight of hope and victories on the horizon. And while the day-to-day isn't always good, there are still many reasons to be hopeful for the future of the Amazon. Indigenous peoples across the Amazon are resisting extraction and further destruction of their...
Environmental Groups Oppose Chevron’s Use of Dirty Tricks to Evade Justice in Ecuador
Organizations argue in legal filings that attacks against lawyer creates widespread silencing of voices calling for corporate accountability
Oakland, CA – Two environmental NGOs filed formal petitions this week before the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights and the New York Bar opposing Chevron's attempts to use the legal system to attack those pushing the company to address its toxic legacy in the Amazon.
Trade Tribunal Validates Corporate Abuse of Amazonians by Ruling in Chevron’s Favor
"It is absurd that an international trade tribunal can circumvent a sovereign democratic nation's independent judiciary. Ecuadorian courts were essentially found guilty of considering the evidence against Chevron and holding the company to account," said Amazon Watch Associate Director Paul Paz y Miño.
The Last Guardians: A Must-Watch Film Highlights the Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice
Now available for download and streaming, The Last Guardians takes viewers to the Ecuadorian Amazon to further understand the struggle of indigenous community members as they defend their land and culture against the threats they face from extractive industries.
Silencing Human Rights and Environmental Defenders
The overuse of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP) by corporations
CSR and Business Ethics | The saga of cases of litigation initiated by Chevron following serious pollution in the Amazonian region of Ecuador is an infamous illustration of such legal tactic. The serious pollution created by oil spillage has led to a series of multiple country-based legal strategies by Chevron to avoid resp onsibility. After losing a case in Ecuador where...
The “Real Tragedy” in Ecuador
Chevron has dehumanized the people of Ecuador in order to disregard their suffering
In the end, Chevron's unethical legal thuggery will circle back to bite the new CEO Michael Wirth not only because it's based on false evidence and lies, but also because it has exposed him as someone no better than the executives at Texaco who made the fateful decision to deliberately pollute the Amazon in the first place.
Building Power: Telling Stories of Resistance and Resilience to a Global Audience
When Gloria spoke to shareholders, the room paid rapt attention. Many had never heard an indigenous person speak about the impacts that oil drilling and climate change would have on their way of life. An issue that had seemed abstract became real, and the impact of their investment decisions gained a human face. Creating this personal connection...
Chevron CEO Challenged to Change Course at Shareholder Meeting
Shareholders and environmental groups called on company to turn page on environmental destruction and rights abuses
San Ramon, CA – At Chevron’s annual general meeting today, institutional shareholders and environmental and human rights organizations representing shareholders presented newly-appointed CEO Michael Wirth with arguments for why he should change course on the company’s history of environmental and social irresponsibility.
Amazonian Leaders Call on California to Go Fossil Fuel-Free at Chevron’s Richmond Refinery
Bay Area environmental and Indigenous organizations join protest to call attention to Chevron's key role in causing destruction to people and planet
Richmond, CA – Indigenous leaders from the Ecuadorian Amazon joined Bay Area allies at Chevron's Richmond Refinery on Thursday morning to call on California's political leadership to phase out oil and gas production and processing in the state, including its importation of crude oil drilled in the Amazon rainforest.
Chevron’s SLAPP Suit Against Ecuadorians: Corporate Intimidation
Greenpeace | In perhaps the most vindictive SLAPP in history, Chevron – one of the world's largest corporations, with over $260 billion in assets – found a sympathetic New York judge to accept a RICO lawsuit against the victims of its vast oil pollution in Ecuador's Amazon basin.
The Toxic Mess Under Chevron’s Corporate Veil
A hearing in a critically important case for the future of environmental protection, corporate accountability, and human rights took place in Toronto, Canada last week. At issue was an argument essential to corporate accountability: can individuals harmed by a corporation "pierce the corporate veil" to force it to account for judgements from...
Record Environmental Judgement Moves to Ontario Superior Court in Toronto
Long running dispute between petro-giant Chevron and Ecuadorian citizens has Canadian component
Toronto, Canada – This morning, Friends of the Earth Canada, the Steelworkers Humanity Fund of the United Steelworkers of Canada, and Amazon Watch filed an application to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice calling on the court to unseal documents in the historic legal effort to enforce one of the largest environmental judgments in history.
Us and Them: Affected Peoples vs. Chevron in Canada
"It's a fundamental question of whether corporations like Chevron should be allowed to use their financial muscle to destroy people with an absolutely vital claim to reparations for damages that were caused to them over many years."
Standing with Ecuadorian Communities in Toronto Against Chevron: Serial Polluter and Corporate Criminal
Amazon Watch is in Toronto today to stand with the indigenous and campesino communities who have been the victims of Chevron's toxic waste for over five decades. We also denounce Chevron's abuse of the legal system to intimidate and harass its victims, as well as journalists, environmental and human rights organizations, and even concerned...
