April 2000

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It's What We Say-- Not What We Do

Talisman oil claims to operate in accordance with the International Code of Ethics for Canadian Business but the facts say otherwise

Talisman Energy, headquartered in Calgary, is one of the largest oil companies in the world.

Talisman's informative web site proudly announces that on December 10, 1999, Talisman Energy announced it had formally adopted the International Code of Ethics for Canadian Business. The site explains that;

"Canadian business has a global presence that is recognized by all stakeholders as economically rewarding to all parties, acknowledged as being ethically, socially and environmentally responsible, welcomed by the communities in which we operate, and that facilitates economic, human resource and community development within a stable operating environment."

It also goes on to say that it values, "human rights and social justice", and that "Concerning Human Rights, we will: support and respect the protection of international human rights within our sphere of influence; and not be complicit in human rights abuses."

What Talisman says and what it does, however, seem to be at odds.

Last October, a special Canadian Foreign Service official, John Harker, was assigned to study the impact of Talisman Energy, Inc. on the on-going conflict in Sudan. He issued his findings February 14th in a report titled Human Security in Sudan: The Report of a Canadian Assessment Mission.

The U.S. Committee for Refugees (USCR), an International NGO founded in 1958 to coordinate the United States' participation in the United Nations' International Refugee Year (1959), has characterized the report as very useful in some of its findings of fact and very weak in its recommendations.

The report clearly documents the role of oil production in displacing southern Sudanese civilians through the Sudanese government's scorched-earth policy to create a security zone around the oil fields. It also documents that the Sudanese military has used Talisman Energy's assets for offensive military purposes.

The USCR reports that, "A Sudanese government plane bombed a primary school in the town of Kaouda in the Nuba Mountains region of Sudan in early February. 13 students were killed, and many more students and teachers were injured. The Geneva Conventions strictly forbid the targeting of schools, hospitals, and civilians in war situations. The attack came just three weeks after the Sudanese government promised a cease-fire on all war fronts. All those killed were under 14. According to Reuters, a day after the attack, a Sudan government spokesman justified the attack saying the school was a `legitimate target'."

Critics or Sudan's government also charge it with landmining villages, poisoning wells, bombing schools and hospitals and sponsoring terrorism in its 16-year civil war against Christians and other blacks. Investor's Business Daily reported on March 10, that Canada's Foreign Affairs Ministry recently found an oil pipeline that CNPC, the state oil company of the human rights averse Republic of China, is building with Sudan's government and others is "exacerbating the conflict" that has already killed more than 2 million people. Not only will oil revenue go to fuel the war effort, but Sudan's government is using the pipeline project's airstrip for bombing missions, the report said.

In spite of mounting and irrefutable evidence that Talisman is, at the very least, exacerbating human rights violations and atrocities, they have made little effort to alter their operations. The Canadian government has refused to impose any requirements on Talisman, though under pressure from the international community to do so, and have gone so far as to publicly suggest that - regardless of factual findings to the contrary - Talisman may actually become an impetus for peace in the region.