Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: Greenpeace Statement –

Pictures, video footage, drone and phone footage of the protest are all available here.

As the Rosebank oil field was being discussed in Parliament yesterday in an Opposition Day debate[1], Greenpeace ship the Rainbow Warrior III caught up with the PetroJarl Rosebank, the huge oil industry ship heading to the field near the Shetland Islands, as it left Walvis Bay in Namibia after refuelling. Activists from the Warrior in RHIBs (rigid hulled inflatable boats) and kayaks protested the Rosebank’s plans for the second time in five days. 

Four activists from the Warrior managed to reach the PetroJarl Rosebank in a RHIB and paint ‘THEY PROFIT, WE PAY’ down the side of the hull.

Six more activists in kayaks and RHIBs surrounded the Rosebank with banners protesting their plans, reading ‘OIL WAR PROFITEERS’, ‘STOP ROSEBANK’ and ‘SHELL + EQUINOR PROFIT, WE PAY‘, while the Warrior displayed a giant banner hung between its masts reading ‘STOP ROSEBANK’.

Shell, Equinor and Ithaca, the three oil companies behind the project, have seen their combined market value soar by billions of pounds since the US-Israeli attacks on Iran.[2] 

Angharad Hopkinson, a campaigner from Greenpeace UK currently aboard the Warrior, said:

“These oil companies think they can carry on ignoring the reality of climate change and profiteering from disastrous oil wars as their industry always has. But their time dominating global politics is coming to an end. We have the technologies needed for real energy security and independence. Renewables are already providing far more of our electricity than fossil fuels and as the economy electrifies the role and influence of companies like Shell and Equinor will continue to shrink. 

“But we’re still paying over the odds for our energy because we still let fossil fuels set our prices. To protect bill payers, as well as the climate, we need to quit our oil and gas addiction as quickly as possible. The government must stick to their guns on Rosebank and refuse to allow these climate vandals to bounce them into making a big, dirty and very expensive mistake.”

The PetroJarl Rosebank is a 95,000-tonne ‘floating production, storage and offloading’ (FPSO) vessel operated by Adura, a Shell and Equinor joint venture based in Aberdeen. The ship was renamed the ‘PetroJarl Rosebank’ and reflagged to the UK in January while being refitted in Dubai, having previously been the ‘PetroJarl Knarr’ and flagged to the Bahamas. It is being towed to UK waters by large ocean-going tugs. All this activity has taken place despite the Rosebank oilfield not having final permission to operate from the UK government.

The oil and gas resources in the North Sea have been thoroughly explored and around 90% of them have already been extracted and used[3]. What remains is difficult and expensive to extract. But the UK can replace dwindling North Sea fossil fuel supplies with renewable energy more quickly and cheaply than with new drilling licenses. By 2030 the renewable sources commissioned in the last auction round alone should be supplying nearly six times more energy than the extra domestic gas production in 2030 if new licences are issued for North Sea drilling.[4]   

Equinor had to submit a revised Environmental Impact Assessment for Rosebank including carbon emissions from burning the field’s oil (scope 3 emissions) after the permission given by the last government was judged unlawful in a 2025 court case brought by Greenpeace and Uplift. The estimated scope 3 emissions of the field are 249 million tonnes of CO2e – more than the combined annual emissions of Ireland, Belgium and Greece.

Ed Miliband, Secretary for Energy Security and Net Zero, described the last government’s decision to give permission to drill in the Rosebank field as ‘colossal waste of taxpayer money and climate vandalism’[5]. This chimes with the views of the UK public where, according to polling from YouGov, 54% of UK voters think that increasing renewables is the best way to ensure energy security, while only 25% think it is drilling for new oil and gas.[6]

Pictures, video footage, drone and phone footage of the protest are all available here.

Spokespeople are available for interview.

ENDS

Contact

Please call 07801 212 960 for queries or interviews.

Greenpeace UK Press Office – press.uk@greenpeace.org or 020 7865 8255

Pictures, video footage, drone and phone footage of the protest are all available here.

Notes

1. MPs voted against a Conservative opposition day motion to end the UK Government’s ban on new oil and gas licences for the North Sea, end the windfall tax on energy giants and approve the Rosebank and Jackdaw fields by 297 to 108 votes. https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/mps-vote-against-tory-motion-on-new-north-sea-oil-and-gas-projects-6220509 
2. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/mar/15/oil-company-shares-soar-to-all-time-highs-as-middle-east-war-turbocharges-price-per-barrel https://www.ft.com/content/e37bed88-adfa-472d-a86b-2167dc7ca705 
3. https://eciu.net/media/press-releases/around-90-of-uk-north-sea-oil-and-gas-already-drained-dry-analysis 
4. https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-why-clean-energy-will-cut-uk-gas-imports-by-more-than-north-sea-drilling/ 
5. https://x.com/Ed_Miliband/status/1639587552553213953?s=20 
6. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1kHctDrTv4-331OsTlWGadZO50W3YIlUf4kbUQhhfPCE/edit?slide=id.g3cc67ac0edb_0_171#slide=id.g3cc67ac0edb_0_171  

Source: Greenpeace Statement –

Everything changed when Odette happened. Our daily routines changed. The seawater rose. Things that used to be simple, like sleeping, cooking, or going out to fish, suddenly felt hard and dangerous. We lived in trauma. It occupied our dreams.

It has been four years. Have we recovered? Not really. Maybe 60–70%, and not everyone has. Little by little, we’re getting back up because of help from NGOs and the like, for which we are grateful. There were microfinance groups that offered assistance. But the losses were huge. I’m thankful to the Lord that no lives were taken—only material things. Those can still be replaced. Still, “only material things” can mean a lifetime of work. My equipment, my appliances, all wiped out. My house was totally damaged. Only one wall left standing.

We used to have this habit: every year we saved for a small project—this year we’ll buy this, next year we’ll build that. Then in one instant, it all disappeared.

I remember when the sea poured into our sleeping area. We didn’t realize it at first. We thought my grandchild peed. But it was seawater….

Take it from us, climate change is already here; it’s been here for years. We can’t pretend otherwise. What matters to us now is making sure it doesn’t get even worse. We can’t stop it overnight, but we can demand accountability and push for solutions that protect communities like ours.

People ask about the case we’re filing. We’re in it to fight a big international company. Am I afraid? Courage comes from my family—from my children and my grandchildren. Whether we lose or win is not the point for me. What matters is that we stand up. Even if it takes many years before results—many years before we know that we’ve won or lost—my grandchildren will remember that their lola stood up for them. I want them to know that as a matter of human rights, we should fight.

Why is it important that we win? Because a win can force payment for damages. At the very least, the possessions we spent years saving up for—our boats, our homes—could be replaced. But even if we lose, at least we did something. We are not “small people.” We are people who fight.

Climate justice can sound like a big, distant phrase, but for us it is simple. It’s the right to sleep without seawater licking the floorboards. The right to fish and come home safe. The right to rebuild once—and not rebuild the same house again and again. It is the right to live with dignity.

If you are reading this from far away, please know that every storm has names and faces behind it. Boats have names. Homes have birthdays. When storms make the news, we carry on with repairs long after the headlines are gone. We need those responsible for this crisis to help pay for the losses and to change their business so others don’t suffer the same.

I fight for my family, my neighbours, and the generations yet to come. I fight so my grandchildren can look back one day and say, “Our grandmother was part of that. She stood up for us.”

No, we are not small. Our hearts are bigger than any storm. And why do we fight for climate justice and accountability? Because beneath the statistics and reports lies the simplest truth of all: our lives are at stake.

---

Annie Casquejo is a resident of Batasan Island, one of the “sinking islands” in Bohol, and one of the claimants in the Odette Case. Annie, along with other survivors of Super Typhoon Odette (Rai), is demanding accountability from Shell for climate-induced damages and the great harm they suffered from the storm, which claimed 405 lives and injured over 1,400 others in 2021.

Climate scientists say the extreme weather brought by Odette was made more likely by climate change driven by fossil fuel combustion. This landmark case is the first of its kind and scale against an oil and gas company for deaths, injuries, and property damage that have already occurred.

The case, filed in London where Shell’s global headquarters is located, addresses the company’s historic carbon emissions, as well as its deception and disinformation about climate change, which it has known about since 1965.

Support Annie and other super typhoon survivors in their fight for survival and our common future. Sign the petition.

Source: Amnesty International –

Reacting to the sentencing of opposition politician Elene Khoshtaria to one year and six months’ imprisonment for writing a slogan on an election poster, Denis Krivosheev, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Deputy Director, said:

“For a symbolic act of protest – writing barely visible graffiti on a street poster – Elene Khoshtaria will spend a year and a half in prison. This is yet another example of the criminal justice system being instrumentalized to punish dissent. Criminal sanctions for non-violent minor offences committed while peacefully expressing dissent are likely to be a disproportionate restriction of freedom of expression. In these cases, prison sentences should be avoided.

“In Elene Khoshtaria’s case, the severity of the punishment appears related not to material damage, but to her political opinions and the symbolic damage she has inflicted on the ruling party. The authorities must immediately release her, review her sentence, in particularly by quashing the prison term, and end all politically motivated trials without delay.”

In Elene Khoshtaria’s case, the severity of the punishment appears related not to material damage, but to her political opinions and the symbolic damage she has inflicted on the ruling party. The authorities must immediately release her, review her sentence, in particularly by quashing the prison term, and end all politically motivated trials without delay

Denis Krivosheev, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Deputy Director

Background

On 24 March, Tbilisi City Court sentenced the leader of the opposition party Droa, Elene Khoshtaria, to 1.5-years’ imprisonment under Article 187(1) of Georgia’s Criminal Code for “damaging or destroying another person’s property which has resulted in substantial damage”. She had written “Russian Dream” with a marker on election posters of the incumbent mayor of Tbilisi representing the ruling “Georgian Dream” party on 14 September 2025. According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the damage amounted to 570 GEL (210 USD).

Elene Khoshtaria stated that it was an act of solidarity with activist Megi Diasamidze, who had been detained for a similar act of protest several days earlier. Megi Diasamidze has been released on bail, and her case is still pending.

For over a year, and especially since the widely contested parliamentary elections in October 2025, protests have continued daily. The authorities have responded with ever-increasing repression, including arbitrary arrests, abusive criminal prosecutions, intimidation and harassment of protesters and other critics of the government, as well as a tightening of administrative and criminal legislation that significantly restricts the rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association.

Source: Amnesty International –

Reacting to the sentencing of nightclub owner Tatiana Zorina to four years in a penal colony for purportedly organizing the “extremist activity” of a non-existent “international LGBT movement” at her venue, Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Director, said:

“Tatiana Zorina’s sentencing is a stark illustration of how Russia’s abuse of ‘extremism’ legislation has spiraled into outright persecution targeting LGBTI people and their allies. Running a private venue intended as a space where LGBTI people can safely be themselves is not a crime. Denying this right is deplorable.”

Running a private venue intended as a space where LGBTI people can safely be themselves is not a crime. Denying this right is deplorable

Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Director

“The Russian authorities must immediately overturn this conviction and release Tatiana Zorina. They must also repeal laws that arbitrarily label peaceful expression and association as ‘extremism’ simply because they relate to sexual orientation or gender identity that do not align with so-called ‘traditional values.’ This homophobic witch-hunt must end now.”

Background

On 23 March, the Ingodinsky District Court of Chita, Eastern Siberia, sentenced 23-year-old entrepreneur Tatiana Zorina to four years in a penal colony for “organizing the activities of an extremist organization.” In addition, the court banned her from administering online fora or leading public associations for four years upon release.

Tatiana Zorina was detained in late October 2024 following a police raid on the nightclub “Tochka”, formerly known as “Jackson”. The investigation claimed the venue was used to “promote the ideology” of the so-called “international LGBT movement,” a non-existent entity designated as an “extremist” organization in Russia on 30 October 2023 and invoked to arbitrarily target LGBTI people and those who associate with them.

By the end of 2025, at least 23 criminal cases had been opened on “extremism” charges related to LGBTI activities.

Source: Amnesty International –

Responding to statements by United States President Donald Trump that the USA would postpone strikes on Iran’s power plants and energy infrastructure by five days pending the outcome of discussions on the “resolution of hostilities”, Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty International’s Senior Director of Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns, said

“President Donald Trump’s must retract deeply irresponsible threats of acts that would unleash catastrophic harm on millions of civilians. The decision to not proceed with such attacks must be based on the USA’s obligations under international humanitarian law to avoid civilian harm – not the outcome of political negotiations.  Going through with such attacks would cause devastating long-term consequences and severely undermine the international legal framework designed to protect civilians in wartime.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran’s authorities must also retract their threats to retaliate by striking power plants used by the USA and Israel as well as economic, industrial, and other energy infrastructure in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states. They must end all unlawful attacks against energy infrastructure and desalination facilities in the GCC states. Desalination plants are critical for ensuring drinking water supply to millions of civilians in an arid region. They must further end unlawful attacks on commercial vessels in Strait of Hormuz. Iranian authorities must also immediately restore full internet access.

President Trump must immediately retract these dangerous threats and commit the US to upholding international humanitarian law.

Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty International

“Intentionally attacking civilian infrastructure such as power plants is generally prohibited. Even in the limited cases that they qualify as military targets, a party still cannot attack power plants if this may cause disproportionate harm to civilians. Given that such power plants are essential for meeting the basic needs and livelihoods of tens of millions of civilians, attacking them would be disproportionate and thus unlawful under international humanitarian law, and could amount to a war crime.

“By threatening such strikes, the USA is effectively indicating its willingness to plunge an entire country into darkness, and to potentially deprive its people of their human rights to life, water, food, healthcare and adequate standard of living, and to subject them to severe pain and suffering.  

“When power plants collapse, horrific consequences cascade instantly. Water pumping stations would stop functioning, clean water would become scarce, and preventable diseases would spread. Hospitals would lose electricity and fuel, forcing surgeries to be cancelled and life-support machines to shut down. Food production and distribution networks would collapse, deepening hunger and causing widespread food scarcity. Many businesses would also shut down with devastating economic consequences including mass unemployment.  

“Causing catastrophic harm to the civilian electrical capacity – at a time when the Iranian authorities’ deliberate prolonged internet shutdown has already left Iran’s population isolated – would sever people’s last remaining connection to the outside world, including access to satellite television, at a time of extreme danger.

“President Trump must immediately retract these dangerous threats and commit the US to upholding international humanitarian law.”

Source: Amnesty International –

To mark the start of the 23 March-2 April meeting of the 356^th Session of the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Governing Body, which will consider a formal complaint filed by African trade unions against the Saudi Arabian government concerning persistent and widespread violations and abuses of migrant workers’ rights contrary to its obligations under various ILO treaties, Steve Cockburn, Head of Economic and Social Justice at Amnesty International, said:

“The Saudi Arabian government is actively seeking to have this ILO Complaint buried. However, despite some recent legal reforms, Saudi Arabia’s kafala sponsorship system has not been effectively dismantled and continues to expose millions of migrant workers to significant risk of abuse, including forced labour.  The ILO should continue to scrutinize the case until there is clear evidence that the reforms are genuinely improving migrant workers’ lives.

Many workers are still burdened with illegal recruitment fees, deceived during recruitment and subjected to wage theft.

Steve Cockburn, Head of Economic and Social Justice, Amnesty International,

“Saudi Arabia’s attempt to hide behind recent reforms and procedural arguments, without producing a shred of credible data to show these reforms are actually being implemented, should fool no one. Members of the Governing Body must not be distracted by rhetoric when the evidence of ongoing abuse is overwhelming.

“Today, as our own research shows, many workers are still burdened with illegal recruitment fees, deceived during recruitment, and subjected to wage theft, excessively long hours, unsafe or degrading living and working conditions, and severe restrictions on movement. Domestic workers are especially at risk, with many facing confinement, extreme overwork, and physical or sexual abuse, all while remaining excluded from core labour protections.

“Amnesty International is calling for the ILO Governing Body members to heed the urgency and severity of the abuses presented in the complaint brought by African trade unions and reject claims from Saudi authorities that continued ILO scrutiny is unnecessary.”

Amnesty International is a signatory to a joint statement with partner human rights groups collectively calling on ILO Governing Body members to reject the Saudi Arabian government’s efforts to dismiss the Article 26 complaint brought by African trade unions.

Background 

The complaint, lodged under Article 26 of the Constitution of the International Labour Organization (ILO), calls for urgent international action and accountability. 

The complaint documents widespread forced labour, wage theft, physical and sexual abuse and systemic racism, particularly – but not exclusively – targeting African migrant workers who experienced being locked in homes, forced to work 18 to 20 hours a day, denied wages, healthcare and rest, and subjected to beatings and harassment. 

The abuses documented in the complaint are consistent with research and reporting of other organizations, including Amnesty International.  

 In January, the Government of Saudi Arabia responded to the complaint and asked for it to be dismissed.

Saudi Arabia has ratified a number of core ILO human rights conventions which require it to guarantee protection against against forced labour, discrimination, and other abuses, ensure fair and decent working conditions for all workers without distinction, and uphold workers’ fundamental rights to justice, remedy, and effective protection under the law.

Source: Oxfam –

Source: Amnesty International –

Responding to a decision by a court in Kyrgyzstan to release investigative journalist and Temirov LIVE editor-in-chief Makhabat Tazhibek-kyzy from custody and subject her to a travel ban pending a retrial, Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Director, said:

“While Makhabat Tazhibek-kyzy’s release from prison is a long-overdue step towards justice that allows her to reunite with her son, it does not erase the human rights violations she has already endured and those she faces with possible retrial.”

“The Kyrgyzstani authorities should immediately drop all charges and lift the travel ban against Makhabat Tazhibek-kyzy, and provide her with an effective remedy for the violations she has already suffered.

“The targeting of Makhabat Tazhibek-kyzy, and earlier, of her colleagues from Temirov LIVE and Ayt Ayt Dese media projects, sends a chilling message to investigative journalists across the country. No journalist should be prosecuted solely for reporting on matters of public interest. The authorities must abide by Kyrgyzstan’s international human rights obligations and provide a safe environment for independent journalism and ensure full respect for the right to freedom of expression.”

The targeting of Makhabat Tazhibek-kyzy, and earlier, of her colleagues from Temirov LIVE and Ayt Ayt Dese media projects, sends a chilling message to investigative journalists across the country. No journalist should be prosecuted solely for reporting on matters of public interest

Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Director

Background

On 23 March, the Lenin District Court of Bishkek ordered Makhabat Tazhibek-kyzy’s release after more than two years’ detention, replacing her custodial measure with a travel restriction. The decision followed a ruling by the Supreme Court on 10 March to overturn her previous conviction and retry her case.

Makhabat Tazhibek-kyzy was arrested in January 2024 along with other journalists and media workers associated with Temirov LIVE and Ayt Ayt Dese, two independent media projects that have investigated alleged corruption in Kyrgyzstan. She and her colleague Azamat Ishenbekov faced trumped up charges of “inciting mass unrest,” and were sentenced to six and five years’ imprisonment respectively, on 10 October 2024. Makhabat’s husband, prominent investigative journalist Bolot Temirov, had previously been stripped of his Kyrgyzstani citizenship and forced into exile. Azamat Ishenbekov was released on 9 April 2025 by presidential pardon.