I remember making three-tired graves. In those three to four days we must have buried more than 4,000 persons, says Mohammad Aziz as he looks at these skeletons that have come out of the graves.
As the Earth Summit negotiations go into full swing, Greenpeace
today launch a touring exhibition of photographs of Bhopal by
world-renowned Magnum photographer, Raghu Rai (1), to urge
governments to commit to an international agreement on corporate
accountability and liability to stem the tide of corporate
environmental abuses.
The exhibit entitled ?Exposure: Portrait of a Corporate Crime?,
offers a unique insight into the human and environmental tragedy
that has engulfed the Indian city of Bhopal since December 1984,
when an explosion at Union Carbide?s pesticide plant released
lethal gases into the city, causing the world?s worst industrial
disaster.
?More than any other corporate induced disasters, Bhopal
highlights the failure of corporations to observe basic standards
of human decency. It also reflects the humiliating failure on the
part of governments to protect and uphold public welfare against
corporate transgressions,? said Von Hernandez of Greenpeace
International.
To date, 20,000 people have died from gas exposure and the
effects of the disaster are now extending into the next generation.
150,000 of the survivors are chronically ill and communities are
drinking contaminated groundwater. The American company responded
by abandoning the contaminated plant, paying the survivors
inadequate compensation and refusing to accept liability for the
disaster. Eighteen years after the disaster, the abandoned Carbide
plant is still littered with stockpiles of hazardous waste and
obsolete pesticides.
In 2001, Dow Chemical merged with Union Carbide and became the
world's biggest chemical company. In buying Union Carbide, Dow not
only bought the company?s assets but also its liabilities.
Dow-Carbide, so far has shown no sign of taking responsibility over
the Bhopal legacy.
Satianath Sarangi founder of the Sambhavna Trust Clinic, which
has been providing medical aid and assistance to victims of the
disaster, said, ?Each picture in this exhibition is a testimony in
black and white against the greed and malevolence of corporate
criminals such as Dow-Union Carbide. The pictures also remind us
that justice remains more elusive than ever for the victims of this
disaster.?
The opening of the exhibit in Johannesburg is supported by a
Greenpeace report which compiles cases of corporate crime from
various industrial sectors, including the chemical, forest, mining,
genetic engineering, nuclear and oil industries, from different
parts of the world (2). It also includes other cases of ongoing
toxic disasters such as the recent flooding of a
dioxin-contaminated factory in the Czech Republic owned by the
company Spolana.(3).
The cases demonstrate how transnational corporations have
learned to downplay damage and elude criminal and/or civil
liability. They also illustrate the need for governments, who are
ultimately responsible for public welfare, to force corporations to
uphold the law and become more accountable to the public.
Greenpeace and Bhopal survivors organisations are campaigning to
ensure Dow Chemical cleans up the factory site at its expense, as
would be required in the U.S., provide long-term medical treatment
for the survivors of the poison gas leak, ensure medical and
economic compensation for the 2nd and emerging 3rd generation
victims, provide clean drinking
water to communities that are forced to consume contaminated
groundwater and punish the guilty. (4)
Read the Corporate Crimes report
http://www.greenpeace.org/reports/
Notes: 1) Born in 1942, Raghu Rai has been amazing the photographic world for over thirty years with his unique images. In 1993, he was honored as the Photographer of the Year in the Unites States. Rai has been an associate of Magnum for over 20 years, an international agency that has been at the forefront of documentary and reportage photography for over fifty years. Raghu Rai realized he was witnessing a disaster, when he arrived in Bhopal hours after the gas leak to find chaos as the dead were being buried and cremated and the hospitals overflowing with thousands of patients.(2) Corporate Crimes: The Need for an International Instrument on Corporate Accountability -- Is a compilation of cases documenting the criminal behavior of big corporations like Dow, Bayer, ICI, Shell, Solvay, Monsanto, Aventis, Exxon, Total Fina, and others, in the following countries: Brazil, India, New Zealand, Australia, Argentina, Peru, Paraguay, UK, US, Japan, France, South- Africa, Russia, Spain, Philippines, Israel, and others. In the report, Greenpeace is asking governments to take up the Bhopal Principles on Corporate Accountability and Liability, a comprehensive set of principles to ensure that corporations protect human rights, food sovereignty and promote clean and sustainable development. The Ten Principles on Corporate Accountability include corporate liability for damages arising from their activities, as well as for damage to areas beyond national jurisdictions including the global commons; the protection of human rights; the provision of public participation and the right to know; protection of food sovereignty; the implementation of the Precautionary Principle; adherence to the highest standards for protecting human health and the environment; avoiding excessive corporate influence over governance; and promoting clean and sustainable development. (3) The chemical company Spolana in the Czech republic poses a great environmental risk as result of a huge toxic legacy of mercury and dioxine. The company, including the state and private owners, has avoided addressing the question of liability towards direct and indirect victims, as well as a holistic approach to contamination of the Spolana premises. Their current production of chlorine and PVC has, by the recent floodings, proven to be dangerous, causing three chlorine leaks. (4) Greenpeace is working as part of an international coalition of NGO groups named AaCcTt-Action Against Corporate Crime and Toxic Terror- whose constituents are: the Bhopal Gas Affected Women Stationery Workers Association, Bhopal Gas Affected Pensioners Association, Bhopal Group for Information and Action, National Campaign For Justice in Bhopal, The Other Media and CorpWatch.