Greenpeace activists display banners demonstrating against the departure of former French aircraft carrier Clemenceau at the Port of Toulon. The decommissioned vessel is bound for India where it will be finally dismantled in spite of containing huge quantities of highly toxic asbestos. The banners read 'ASBESTOS CARRIER _ STAY OUT OF INDIA'
The Clemenceau may be one of the largest ships to be sent for
scrap but every year a vast decrepit armada bearing a dangerous
cargo of toxic substances including asbestos, PCBs (polychlorinated
biphenyls) and heavy metals, ends up in Asian ship breaking yards
(Bangladesh, India, China and Pakistan) where they are cut up in
the crudest of fashions taking a huge toll on human health and the
local environment.
"The sorry story of the Clemenceau is the story of ship breaking
in general, a tragic case of pass the toxic parcel," said Pascal
Husting, Executive director of Greenpeace France. "After years of
attempts to find a cheap way of dumping the Clemenceau and its load
of at least 130 tonnes of deadly asbestos and other toxics, once
again the French Government tries to send it for breaking in the
unregulated yards of India. This is an unacceptable practice of
waste dumping. "(1)
End of life ships should be treated like any other toxic
material under the internationally recognised Basel Convention
which bans the dumping of such waste by OECD countries in non-OECD
countries. However, the shipping industry and the International
Maritime Organisation (IMO), fearing that ships would become
subject to a strict environmental justice regime, claim that the
Basel Convention has no competence over ships for scrap.
"Dumping this asbestos carrier on India or any other Asian ship
breaking yard not equipped to deal with toxic ships is an
unofficial declaration of war against the environment and against
unprotected, vulnerable and poor workers. This ship has been
rejected for export to Greece and Turkey before. Surely, it should
also stay out of India. ," said Ramapati Kumar of Greenpeace
India.
Today, at the Palais de Nations in Geneva, representatives of
three United Nations bodies, IMO, the Basel Convention and the
International Labour Organisations (ILO), will begin a three-day
meeting to discuss ways to bring the ship breaking industry under
control. The IMO has resisted any attempt to loosen its grip on all
ship related regulation and bring the shipping industry under the
control of the Basel Convention. Earlier this month the IMO
announced plans to develop a new treaty for ship scrapping.
However, it will not come into effect for at least another five
years and is likely to place the burden of responsibility for
hazardous waste on poor workers at the breaking yards in Asia and
not on the ship owners. (2)
"Not all of the casualties of this toxic trade are unknown,"
said Marietta Harjono of Greenpeace International, in Geneva at the
launch of a new report produced jointly by Greenpeace and the
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) on ship breaking.
The report follows the story of 110 workers who have died during
accidents in ship breaking yards of India and Bangladesh (3)
"While the talking continues so does the dying," said Harjono.
"This week discussions must conclude-at a minimum-that until the
IMO provides new regulations for ship breaking that the shipping
industry should adhere to the Basel Convention and international
human rights conventions." (5)
Greenpeace is an independent campaigning organisation that uses
non-violent creative confrontation to expose global environmental
problems to drive solutions that are essential to a green and
peaceful future.
Other contacts: Contact informationPascal Husting, Greenpeace France, +33673892319Ramapati Kumar, Greenpeace India, +919845535414Jacob Hartmann, Greenpeace International, +4528109020Marietta Harjono, Greenpeace International in Geneva, +31615007411Jacek Winiarski, Greenpeace International Communications, +48504274080
VVPR info: Video available from Michael Nagasaka, Greenpeace Video Desk + 31646166309Photos available from John Novis, Greenpeace Photo Desk + 31653819121www.greenpeace.org
Notes: Notes to Editors(1) The French have attempted to be rid of the Clemenceau since 1997 when it was decommissioned. There have been plans to make it an artificial reef, scrap it in Turkey and dismantled it in Italy, among others.(2) IMO Assembly - 24th session: 21 November - 2 December 2005. Greenpeace and others denounced the new IMO instrument which as currently envisaged will place the burden of hazardous waste on developing countries, and for providing provisions for being far weaker than the existing Basel Convention. The obligations of the 1989 Basel Convention and its 1995 Basel Ban Amendment prevents export of the waste vessel if they are not decontaminated and stripped of toxic substances such as asbestos and PCBs by the ship owners or exporting states. The Basel Convention places responsibility on industry and rich nations to prevent and even prohibit the export of hazardous wastes to developing countries, the new IMO legal instrument will place almost all responsibility on the ship breaking countries and their facilities.(3) “END OF LIFE SHIPS - the human cost of breaking ships”, December 2005. FIDH/Greenpeace (in cooperation with Young Power in Social Action, YPSA, in Bangladesh). Web link. As the report went to print, on December 3rd, three more people lost their lives in the Sagorika ship breaking yard in Bangladesh: Rofiqul Islam (33), Md Siddique (40) and Abul Kalam (35). All died of suffocation when they inhaled carbon monoxide in the lower deck of a bulk carrier called MV Star. According to local police and other sources the Star should have been made gas free for hot works before it was sent to Bangladesh for breaking.(4) Later today, some 200 people, from ship breaking workers, students, doctors, teachers, civilians to NGOs will gather the shipbreaking yards in Bangladesh commemorate the workers in Bangladesh who lost their lives due to ship breaking activities. Organised by Young Power in Social Action, this funeral event will include the formation of a human chain and hold a three-minute silence when candles will be lit and floated out to sea in memory of the dead.(5) Today, in Geneva, Greenpeace, FIDH and YPSA will present a joint declaration signed by 20 international and national human rights, environmental and health NGOs and trade unions to representatives of the IMO, the ILO and the Basel Convention demanding immediate measures to prevent further deaths and pollution (for joint declaration go to: https://ctk.greenpeace.org/gp-en/ctk-collectors/respond?item%5fid=1219592