NGOs call on Europe to
stop illegal traffic of toxic ships
Brussels,
14 September 2012 – At least eight workers have lost their lives at the
shipbreaking yards in Bangladesh this year. Two days ago, Ershadul Huq fell
from a ship at the Sayed Steel Ship Breaking Yard, in Chittagong, Bangladesh
(1). Hundreds of end-of-life ships are dismantled every year on the beaches of
South Asia without sufficient concern for environmental protection and workers’
rights. According to data gathered by member organisations of the NGO
Shipbreaking Platform, at least 12 shipbreaking workers died on the job in 2010
and at least 15 died in 2011. Many more workers were injured, sometimes maimed
for life. Also unprotected from exposure to toxic fumes and asbestos at the
shipbreaking yards, workers in addition suffer and can die of cancer.
Following
a Court Order in 2009 (2), the Bangladesh Ministry of Industries, and the
Ministry of Forest and Environment both issued new rules last year (3) for a
better regulation of the shipbreaking sector. Both sets of rules are still
being reviewed by the Courts to ensure they include all necessary requirements
for protecting the environment and workers’ rights (4). In the meantime, ships
laden with hazardous waste are still being beached in Bangladesh and
shipbreaking workers are continuing to risk their lives when dismantling
vessels laden with toxic materials without proper training, infrastructure and
protective equipment (5). Last week, about 30 trees were cut illegally to
create more space for beaching the ships. Already in 2009, twenty thousand trees
had been cut in the same area (6).
“It
is time for Bangladesh to put an end to the human rights and environmental
abuses caused by the shipbreaking industry,” said Rizwana Hasan, chief
executive of Platform member organisation Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers
Association (BELA). “We succeeded in getting the Courts in Bangladesh aware of
the disastrous conditions, now the Government needs to act, and also the
countries from where these ships are sent – Bangladesh is no dumping ground for
the world’s toxic ships ,” she added.
It is
also the responsibility of Europe to ensure that toxic-laden European
end-of-life ships are not exported to Bangladesh. In 2011, 35 European ships
were beached in Chittagong (7), and already during the first half of 2012 at
least 26 European ships were sold to Bangladeshi breakers. In reaction to the
devastating conditions at the shipbreaking yards in South Asia, the European
Commission published a proposal for a new regulation on ship recycling in March
2012. The proposal has however been strongly criticised by both NGOs and other
European policy makers for not providing effective solutions, but rather
succumbing to the shipping industry lobby. In July the European Economic and
Social Committee, a European institution based in Brussels, said the proposal
is “weak and full of legal loopholes”, and concluded that “the political will
[to solve the problem] is manifestly absent” (8). The European Parliament is
expected to debate the issue this coming autumn.
“Now
the European Parliament needs to ensure that effective measures to stop the
export of toxic European ships to developing countries are introduced – such
measures should include an instrument to hold the polluter, in this case the
ship owner, responsible for the proper dismantling of ships” said Ingvild
Jenssen, director of the NGO Shipbreaking Platform.
Notes:
(1)
See the news report: http://bit.ly/Q7ZRUq
(2)
See the NGO Shipbreaking Platform’s press release of 17 March 2009: http://bit.ly/O3o1mr
(3)
Respectively Ship Breaking and Ship Recycling Rules and Hazardous Waste; and
Ship Breaking Management Rules, both dated 2011
(4)
The rules need to comply with laws and conventions to which Bangladesh is a
signatory : Basel Convention Act (1989), Bangladesh Environment Protection Act
(1995), Bangladesh Marine and Fisheries Ordinance (1989), Bangladesh Labour Act
(2006), Bangladesh Territorial Water and Maritime Zone Act (1974), Environment
Protection Rules (1997)
(5)
It is estimated that up to 95 percent of the workforce is made up of migrant
labourers coming from Bangladesh’s poorest districts. As a result of the hard
and dangerous working conditions, the population in the shipbreaking yards is
young, male and often illiterate. Dr Biswajit Roy of the Department of
Occupational and Environmental Health at the Dakha-based National Institute of
Preventive and Social Medicine (NIPSOM) found that 88 percent of the workers
interviewed suffered some form of accidental injury while working in the
Chittagong yards (cited in a 2010 World Bank survey).
Find
the survey here: http://bit.ly/R7xckJ
(6)
See the news report: http://bit.ly/OCdUS0
(7)
See the NGO Shipbreaking Platform’s list: http://bit.ly/A89gAS
(8)
See entire EESC’s opinion: http://bit.ly/Pz8ANd
____________________
Contact:
NGO
Shipbreaking Platform
Ingvild
Jenssen, Director
+32
(0) 2 6094 419
Delphine
Reuter, Communications Officer
+32
(0) 2 6094 418
Bangladesh
Environmental Lawyers Association
Rizwana
Hasan, Director
+88
017 1152 26066
Source: NGO Shipbreaking Platform. 14 September 2012
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