A/HRC/28/64/Add.2 VI. Minority groups in the Niger Delta 49. The Niger Delta is located in the Southern part of Nigeria, comprising an area of 70,000 km2 that encompasses nine States: Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Imo, Ondo and Rivers. The Niger Delta is crossed by the Niger River, the largest river in Nigeria, in a land covered with swamps, rainforests and woodlands. It is a region extremely rich in natural resources, particularly in oil, which was discovered in the 1950s. 50. The Niger Delta is home to a large number of ethnic groups and communities, including Ijwa, Ikwerre, Itsekiri, Isoko, Ogoni and Ukwuani. The Special Rapporteur travelled to Rivers State, where she visited Port Harcourt, the Ogoni communities of Bodo and Goi and the Ikwerre community of Rumuekpe. 51. In Port Harcourt, representatives of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People briefed the Special Rapporteur on the current situation of the Ogoni communities. Ogoniland is located in Rivers State and covers around 1,000 km2. It has been the site of oil industry operations since the late 1950s. Ogoniland suffers from severe and welldocumented environmental pollution from oil spills and oil well fires that have contaminated the land, water, vegetation and air, with a devastating impact on the livelihoods of many Ogoni communities. In a 2011 report, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) found that oil contamination in Ogoniland was “widespread and severely impacting many components of the environment”. 11 It also noted that most residents had lived with chronic oil pollution throughout their lives, with grave impacts on their health and livelihoods, as well as the presence of high levels of contaminants, including the known carcinogen benzene, in communities’ drinking water. 52. In the report, UNEP stated that the environmental restoration of Ogoniland was possible, but warned that it would take 25 to 30 years. The recommendations contained in the report included the creation by the Government of an Ogoniland Environmental Restoration Authority to oversee the implementation of the recommendations and the establishment of an Environmental Restoration Fund with an initial provision of $1 billion. In July 2012, a special unit within the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the Hydrocarbon Pollution Restoration Project, was created and entrusted with the mission to protect and restore the environmental human rights of all communities affected by hydrocarbon pollution in Nigeria. 53. In Bodo community, some Ogoni leaders described the Ogonis as “a minority within a minority” and highlighted the main problems faced by the community, particularly the effects of the oil spills that they allege to be caused by the petrochemical company Shell, which have severely polluted the soil and the water, resulting in health problems, limiting farming and creating a food crisis. They claimed that neither the federal nor the local government had visited the community to inquire about their situation. They described having each being offered financial compensation by Shell that they had refused to accept, considering it inadequate. The representatives stated that they wanted the oil company to access the community and clean the polluted area. 54. Other areas of concern stressed by the Bodo community leaders included the underrepresentation of Ogoni people in politics and the declining situation of the Ogoni language, which is no longer included in the school curriculum, the only mandatory languages since 1986 being Ibo, Hausa and Fulani. It was noted that the Ogoni language was featured on local television for only 15 minutes per day, and not at all at the federal 11 United Nations Environment Programme, Environmental Assessment of Ogoniland (Nairobi, 2011). (Available from http://postconflict.unep.ch/publications/OEA/UNEP_OEA.pdf.) 13