Bremen/Brussels, 19 May
2014 – The NGO Shipbreaking Platform has joined a broad coalition of leading
environmental and labour rights organisations such as Greenpeace, WWF,
German-based BUND and NABU, and the International Transport Workers Federation
(ITF) calling on the EU to address the shortcomings of its Blue Growth
Strategy. Adopted in 2012 to create a sustainable marine and maritime economy,
the NGOs denounce the Strategy for encouraging large-scale industrial
development without protecting marine ecosystems or seafarers’ rights [1].
According to the NGOs,
the EU’s Blue Growth Strategy does not tackle the real threats to the world’s
ocean and seas, such as the rise of water acidification, marine pollution
caused by ships and by land-based waste, plundering of fishing grounds, the dangers
of aquaculture, deep-sea mining, oil drilling and exploration, and the
disregard for labour rights on ships using flags of convenience. The NGOs
invited the public to discuss these critical issues at the Fair Oceans
Conference organised in Bremen, Germany in the run-up to the European Maritime
Day conference, which is held today and tomorrow. The NGOs are also staging
several protests in Bremen and elsewhere.
Every year on 20 May,
the European Commission invites thousands of stakeholders to the EU Maritime
Day, which has become Europe’s largest conference on maritime policy issues.
The NGO Shipbreaking Platform held a workshop at the Fair Oceans Conference to
raise awareness of the human cost and the environmental pollution caused by
substandard shipbreaking. The Platform also took the opportunity to call upon
the European Union to set up a financial incentive based upon the polluter pays
principle. Such a system should not discriminate between the flags used by
ships and thereby make it less attractive for European ship owners to opt for
flags of convenience for the last voyage of their ships.
“It is shameful that
most ship owners continue to reject responsibility for their end-of-life
vessels,” said Patrizia Heidegger, Executive Director of the Brussels-based NGO
Shipbreaking Platform. “Still too many ship owners prioritise getting the best
price for the ship, and ignore the harm done to workers, local communities and
the environment. However, we see more and more progressive ship owners refusing
to sell their end-of-life ships to substandard beach breaking yards and the EU
Ship Recycling Regulation has set a clear standard for safer practices. Sooner
or later, safe and clean ship recycling will be unavoidable for all.”
The Platform called on
the international community, in particular the IMO and UNEP/Basel Secretariat
and ILO, to work together on phasing out the current beaching method in South
Asia and help develop modern ship recycling facilities off the beach that
guarantee a clean and safe dismantling of all end-of-life vessels. The IMO must
also advance on green ship design so that the use of hazardous materials to
build ships is stopped and so that they are constructed in a way that allows
for clean and safe recycling.
NOTES
[1] Read the press release
of the NGO coalition with the position paper: http://bit.ly/1ncU9Bt
CONTACT
Patrizia Heidegger, Executive
Director, NGO Shipbreaking Platform
+32 2 609 44 19
Source:
shipbreaking platform. 19 May 2014
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