French plans to dump the toxic laden warship were finally scuppered by protests in France, India and an embrassing international scandal.
"This is a victory for international law, a victory for Indian
workers,and a victory for workers all across Asia" said Pascal
Husting,Greenpeace France Executive Director. "In today's
globalised world itis vital that nations, such as France and India,
co-operate to upholdglobal justice and not shamelessly pass on
their responsibility tothose in vulnerable areas of the
planet".
Back
in December we highlighted France's attempts to dump an old
warshipladen with toxics like deadly asbestos on India. France
didn't want todeal with its own toxic mess - despite our actions to
block thedeparture of the Clemenceau from the French port of
Toulon. We said itwas wrong for France to dump a 27,000-ton warship
full of asbestos,PCBs, lead, mercury, and other toxic chemicals in
India to be broken upby hand in a scrapyard where impoverished
workers are injured and dieevery day. France insisted it was right
and sent the ship to Indiaanyway.
We weren't going to let them off that easily. In January
we reboardedthe warship in the Mediterranean and called on
Egypt to block thepassage of the ship. The French government
intervened at the highest level toensure the ship could continue to
head to the ship-breaking beaches ofIndia.
Meanwhile in India there was a growing media and public
scandal.
Greenpeace and our anti-asbestos allies launched lawsuits in
both theFrench and Indian courts, and India ordered the warship to
stayout of Indian waters pending a final ruling. Online activists
aroundtheworld were peppering the French government with email
demanding theship return to France. Still France kept theasbestos
ship steaming towards India.
As the Indian Government dithered and the French Government
stubbornlyinsisted on the dumping plan, media interest intensified
and levels ofpublic anger in India and France increased with every
day the shipcontinued to sail head-on into the winds of public
opposition.
The decision of the French supreme court that Greenpeace
wasright came just a few days before a planned state visit to
Indiaby President Chirac, who announced that the warship
wouldbeturned around and head back to France. Domestic heat over
the scandalhad intensified last week when the French Defence
Ministry declaredthat it could not account for about 30 tonnes of
asbestos that wassupposed to be aboard the ship.
The case of the Clemenceau has become a symbol of the moral
injusticeof rich countries dumping their toxic waste on poorer
countries. Havingtried and failed to offload the ship to other
countries, France has finallybeen forced to clean up a toxic mess
of its own making.
While we savour this victory and the return of the Clemenceau to
Franceit is just a poster child for a wider problem. Every year a
vastdecrepit armada bearing a dangerous cargo of toxic
substances,asbestos, PCBs and heavy metals, ends up in
ship-breaking yards inBangladesh, India, China and Pakistan, where
they are cut up in thecrudest of fashions, taking a huge toll on
human health and the localenvironment. Shipbreaking is one of the
most visible forms of thetrade in toxic waste that ends up dumped
in developing countries -- butthat trade is also made up of
smaller, more day-to-day items likephones, computer parts, and
portable electronics.
We believe that rich governments should look at the precedent of
theClemenceau case and take action to reduce the toxic wastes they
produce, and to stop the dumping of toxic waste in allforms on poor
countries. Only effective action will prevent
anotherClemenceau-style scandal.
What are the
implications of this high profile case in the battle against toxic
trade?
You can read more about shipbreaking
and the solutions to the problem here.
Demand safe shipbreaking now
Call upon the international community to accelerate the work of regulating the ship breaking industry.
If you happen to be connected with the shipping industry, you can also play detective for Greenpeace. Help us spot the 50 worst end-of-life ships before they land up at a recycling yard.
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