Human Rights

Tuna has finally gone mainstream, following the outcry in the media that John West* has broken its sustainability and traceability promises. 

We’ve reached millions of people, from This Morning with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine show, to The Times front page and countless other newspapers, everyone is outraged by the embarrassing progress John West has made meeting its sustainability promise to customers. 

A guest blog from Ben Amunwa, campaigner with oil industry watchdog Platform

This time last year I was standing in a vast pool of oily water. It used to be a fish pond for local villagers, but now everywhere was coated with oil and the stench of petroleum was overpowering. A light rain was falling.

Shell has ducked out of the major international trial it faced over human rights abuses in Nigeria, and last night opened its wallet to fork out $15.5m (£9.6m) in a last minute settlement. After 13 years of bringing this case to court, it's a relief for the relatives of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others executed for campaigning against Shell's human rights abuse and environmental crimes in the Niger Delta.

Here's the latest in the Deep Green column from Rex Weyler -author, journalist, ecologist and long-time Greenpeace trouble-maker. The opinions here are his own, and you can sign up to get the column by email every month.

The dispossessed

In 1969, Marie Aimee took her two children for medical treatment, a six-day voyage across the Indian Ocean from their home on Diego Garcia island to Port Louis, Mauritius. Her husband, Dervillie Permal, stayed behind to work at a coconut oil factory and tend the family garden and animals.

After visiting the doctor and picking up supplies in Port Louis, Marie and her children arrived at the quay for the trip home. However, a British Government agent refused to allow them onto the boat, stranding Marie and her children in Mauritius. Throughout the following weeks, other marooned islanders appeared, congregating in a local slum, living in boxes or tin shacks. Two years later, Marie's husband arrived in Port Louis with one small bag and a chilling story.