Nigeria: Repression of women’s protests in oil-producing Delta region.

In July and August 2002, a wave of protests by women from the Niger delta region against oil companies erupted mainly in Delta and Bayelsa States, in southern Nigeria. These protests constitute a landmark in the quest to ensure women’s rights as for the first time, women from several ethnic groups in the Niger delta region put ethnic rivalry aside and joined to claim better living conditions, proper compensations for the communities living on lands that host oil exploitation and a sustainable means of living for their families. This document focuses on the intervention by the security forces to disperse a peaceful demonstration carried out by unarmed women at the gates of the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) and Chevron Nigeria Limited in Warri, Delta State on 8 August 2002.

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