The controversy over ship-breaking yards is as old as the
problem of toxic contamination itself. In Alang, in Bangladesh, in
fact at every ship-breaking yard in developing countries, laws are
flouted with impunity, the environment ruthlessly devastated and
workers treated as an expendable commodity.
On the one hand, authorities would embrace the right rhetoric -
uphold the Basel Convention, agree with the Supreme Court
directives, and show willingness to implement laws, both national
and international. On the other hand, when it was time to act, the
noble ideals remained at rhetoric, and the official stand was
conveniently reversed to suit the vested interests of this
mega-million rupee industry.
"In the absence of political will, we cannot force the shipping
industry to clean up their act. We wanted to ensure that India
received clean steel and that the ship-breaking workers could
retain their jobs and their health," said Ramapati Kumar of
Greenpeace India. "But enough is enough! If Indian authorities
cannot stand by their commitment to international convention and
national laws, and instead encourage toxic trade, it is inevitable
that the industry will suffer the consequences."
This change in stance was reflected in a
joint press statement issued by environmental and labour groups
including Greenpeace, Basel Action Network (BAN) and CITU today,
which stated for the first time that India can no longer be
considered a destination for any ship-recycling operations, now or
in the foreseeable future, due to its blatant disregard for the
environment, human rights, and international law.
"Government authorities have shown their complete inability to
implement the most basic rules and regulations to safeguard labour
interests - the workers lose life and limb for the sake of a mere
fifty rupees a day," said PK Ganguly of Centre of India Trade
Unions, "They would be better off seeking employment elsewhere -
the government has failed them so completely that there is no point
in allowing the industry to continue."
The last straw was the recent decision by the Supreme Court
Monitoring Committee to clear the Danish ship Riky for breaking.
The Riky, containing hazardous substances such as polychlorinated
biphenyls (PCBs), tributyltin (TBT) and asbestos, has been beached
at Alang, in Gujarat, for over nine weeks, as various authorities -
the Gujarat Maritime Board, Ministry of Environment and Forests,
and the Supreme Court Monitoring Committee on Hazardous wastes,
among others - vacillated over the official Indian position on this
fugitive ship.
The Danish government, in repeated letters from their Ministers
of Environment and of Foreign Affairs, had begged India to return
the vessel as it was hazardous waste under the international
treaty, the Basel Convention (Footnote 1) and considered a fugitive
under Danish law. The ship was exported without proper notification
or assurances that it would be managed in an environmentally sound
manner. (Footnote 2) But instead of rightfully returning the ship
to Denmark, the SCMC has given the Indian ship-breaker the go-ahead
to scrap this ship on the beaches of Alang.
As Ramapati adds, "The SCMC's reversal of its earlier stance on
Riky has exposed that no one, not even a Supreme Court appointed
authority, is free from pressure from vested interests."
Shocking as it was, the SCMC verdict was only the
beginning.
In a move that is sure to have far-reaching impacts, India has
also shocked the delegates at a working group of the Basel
Convention (Footnote 3) in Geneva this week by publicly stating
that it had no
intention of adhering to the Basel Convention Guidelines on
Environmentally Sound Ship Dismantling. This despite the
fact that India had helped negotiate these guidelines that were
adopted in 2003. In a Convention with 165 Parties, India was the
only country to hold the position that deems a ship is not a waste
under the Convention and therefore not subject to all of the
control procedures and obligations of the Convention. Meanwhile the
Indian Ministry of Defence is engaged in investigations of
underworld connections in Alang.
Click here for the joint press statement including a list of
instances of international and national laws being abused.
FOOTNOTES 1. The Basel Convention on the Control of
Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal,
adopted 1989. India became a party in 1992. 2. Letters and legal
analysis of the Riky case can be found at: www.ban.org/index.html
3. 4th Session of the Open-Ended Working Group of the Basel
Convention, 4-8 July 2005, Geneva
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