To
Shri G K Vasan
Union Minister of Shipping ,
Government of India
Transport Bhawan,
New Delhi- 110001
Subject-Save Alang Beach
Sir,
I am an environmental health researcher working in the area of “Recycling of Ships”. I represent a coalition of groups working on environmental, labour and human rights. In the matter of ship breaking/recycling and dumping of obsolete ships in Indian waters, I am an applicant in the Supreme Court as well. I was involved in the famous Le Clemenceau, the French ship case as well. Also I am involved in a national campaign to save India's dying beaches including once pristine beach of Alang, Bhavnagar, Gujarat.
This letter is an urgent request to you for the protection of the Alang beach.
Unmindful of the Indian Supreme Court order and the report of the report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Petitions, European and Chinese shipping companies and agencies have bulldozed the adoption of the text of a new international treaty on ship recycling/breaking through International Maritime Organisation (IMO) in May 2009 in Hongkong, China to ensure that shipowners of the developed world escapes the decontamination cost in the country of export due to to non-implementation of laws in India.
Consequently, the ongoing contamination of Alang beach in Gujarat continues and no heed is paid to the fatal accidents at the ship dismantling yards. Currently, Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) supervises the secondary steel production process of ship dismantling. Clearly, it is not a marine activiry over which GMB or IMO could be deemed a competent body.
The recent incident of two more deaths occurred on the 1st June on Plot 15 of the ship-breaking yard at Alang beach involved a labourer identified as Ayodhyasingh Rajput (35). Rajput was a native of Jharkhand and was employed by a local company named Chantivala Contractor. Newsreports note that the authorities have confirmed that the incident bore resemblance to yet another fatal accident that occurred at Plot 24 D in May, 2009. In both the cases, workers died when the crane’s rope carrying big steel plates cut from discarded ships broke and fell on them. Alang witnessed its first major workers’ strike around two months back. Alang yard employs close to 15,000 workers mainly in the unorganized sector.
A large number of these workers are migrants from Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Bihar and Jharkhand and continue to live in hutments, with no provision of clean drinking water and electricity. A Supreme Court-appointed committee revealed that the fatal accident rate in ship-breaking industry is in the range of 2 per 1000 as opposed to 0.34 per 1000 in the mining industry. The fatal accident rate at Alang is around 50-60 per year.
You may find the URL of the European coverage of the issue at http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/ships/index.htm
It also has Indian Supreme Court order that is related to the case I am involved in.
More than 100 ships are currently beached illegally in Alang. These days nearly 25 to 30 vessels are coming to the Alang beach every month. Even as teh Supreme Court is seized with the matter, these ships have entered Indian waters in violation of the apex court's orders and the UN's Basel Convention on Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal. It poses a grave threat to our country's environmental security.
It is high time the secondary steel production process of ship dismantling is entrusted to the respective Industry Department and the industrial activity is taken off the beach.
In this regard I also wish to submit that the regressive nature of the recently adopted IMO treaty creates a compelling logic for India to disassociate itself from it becasue it promotes status quo and permits ongoing contamination of once pristince beaches to the detriment of the fragile coastal environment, communities and workers. The treaty's glaring failure lies in its inability to deal with the issue of radioactive steel as well.
15/06/2009
Fatal accidents continue to haunt Alang ship-breaking yard
Ahmedabad: Although the Gujarat government has set up a separate Inspectorate of Factories at Alang ship-breaking yard under its Industrial Health and Hygiene (IH&H) Department to enforce safety provisions, two more fatal accidents have been reported from the world’s largest ship-breaking yard in the last one month.
The recent incident that occurred on the 1st June on Plot 15 of the ship-breaking yard involved a labourer identified as Ayodhyasingh Rajput (35). Rajput was a native of Jharkhand and was employed by a local company named Chantivala Contractor.
The authorities have confirmed that the incident bore resemblance to yet another fatal accident that occurred at Plot 24 D in May. In both the cases, workers died when the crane’s rope carrying big steel plates cut from discarded ships broke and fell on them.
And this, when the ship-breaking industry is one of the few sectors that have benefited from the global economic meltdown. The ship price per tonne has fallen to $250 in a year from the high of $750 in June 2008, indicating a fall of nearly 60 per cent. On the other hand, steel prices have fallen by only 40 per cent resulting in a good margin for ship-breakers. And with nearly 25 to 30 vessels hitting Alang shores every month, the ship-breakers are minting money like never before.
But even in this boom, Alang witnessed its first major workers’ strike around two months back. Alang yard employs close to 15,000 workers mainly in the unorganized sector. A large number of these workers are migrants from Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Bihar and Jharkhand and continue to live in hutments, with no provision of clean drinking water and electricity.
Ram Patel, the Vice-president, Alang Sosiya Ship Recycling and General Workers Association (ASSRGWA) with nearly 5,000 ship-breaking workers as registered members, had earlier told Newsline, “Though the industry was recognized in
1982, there is no proper workers’ colony even now. The basic amenities like hospitals, schools, etc are nowhere to be seen.”
Besides, getting compensation in case of mishaps has remained a tough task for victims and their families. Gama Prasad, a 38-year-old ship-breaker who hails from Gorakhpur and has been working at Alang for the last 15 years, said, “In cases of injuries, no case is ever registered. The ship-breaking companies at best give some token compensation for medical expenses.”
Prasad said, “This is the reason why these companies never employ any worker permanently.” Even in case of Ayodhyasingh, only Rs 30,000 was given to his family as expenses for performing his last rites, Gama said.
V H Patel, Deputy Director of the Inspectorate of Factories at Alang, while confirming the recent accidents denied the allegations that proper compensation to victims’ families has not been paid.
He said, “The process to provide compensation to the affected parties in both the cases has been initiated and will be completed within a month. The case falls under the jurisdiction of the Worksmen Compensation Authority and it will be decided by a labour judge.”
The compensation amount is calculated taking into account the victims’ age and monthly income, and is deposited by the employer company in the labour court, which then passes it on to the victim’s family, he said.
“About 20,000 workers have been trained at the training centre established at Alang since 2004. Though the number of fatal accidents has come down substantially, still around 20 cases a year are reported with injuries leading to permanent disability,” Patel said.
On the other hand, a Supreme Court-appointed two-member committee in collaboration with the National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH), Ahmedabad had in its survey last year revealed that the fatal accident rate in ship-breaking industry is in the range of 2 per 1000 as opposed to 0.34 per 1000 in the mining industry. Moreover, Greenpeace and the International Federation of Human Rights have put the fatal accident rate at Alang still higher: at 50-60 per year.
Nikhil Gupta, Joint Secretary, Ship Recycling Association of India (SRAI), that represents the ship-breaking companies, declined to comment on the matter.
But even in this boom, Alang witnessed its first major workers’ strike around two months back. Alang yard employs close to 15,000 workers mainly in the unorganized sector. A large number of these workers are migrants from Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Bihar and Jharkhand and continue to live in hutments, with no provision of clean drinking water and electricity.
Ram Patel, the Vice-president, Alang Sosiya Ship Recycling and General Workers Association (ASSRGWA) with nearly 5,000 ship-breaking workers as registered members, had earlier told Newsline, “Though the industry was recognized in
1982, there is no proper workers’ colony even now. The basic amenities like hospitals, schools, etc are nowhere to be seen.”
Besides, getting compensation in case of mishaps has remained a tough task for victims and their families. Gama Prasad, a 38-year-old ship-breaker who hails from Gorakhpur and has been working at Alang for the last 15 years, said, “In cases of injuries, no case is ever registered. The ship-breaking companies at best give some token compensation for medical expenses.”
Prasad said, “This is the reason why these companies never employ any worker permanently.” Even in case of Ayodhyasingh, only Rs 30,000 was given to his family as expenses for performing his last rites, Gama said.
V H Patel, Deputy Director of the Inspectorate of Factories at Alang, while confirming the recent accidents denied the allegations that proper compensation to victims’ families has not been paid.
He said, “The process to provide compensation to the affected parties in both the cases has been initiated and will be completed within a month. The case falls under the jurisdiction of the Worksmen Compensation Authority and it will be decided by a labour judge.”
The compensation amount is calculated taking into account the victims’ age and monthly income, and is deposited by the employer company in the labour court, which then passes it on to the victim’s family, he said.
“About 20,000 workers have been trained at the training centre established at Alang since 2004. Though the number of fatal accidents has come down substantially, still around 20 cases a year are reported with injuries leading to permanent disability,” Patel said.
On the other hand, a Supreme Court-appointed two-member committee in collaboration with the National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH), Ahmedabad had in its survey last year revealed that the fatal accident rate in ship-breaking industry is in the range of 2 per 1000 as opposed to 0.34 per 1000 in the mining industry. Moreover, Greenpeace and the International Federation of Human Rights have put the fatal accident rate at Alang still higher: at 50-60 per year.
Nikhil Gupta, Joint Secretary, Ship Recycling Association of India (SRAI), that represents the ship-breaking companies, declined to comment on the matter.
Gaurav Sharma
Jun 14, 2009
Indian EXpress
The recent incident that occurred on the 1st June on Plot 15 of the ship-breaking yard involved a labourer identified as Ayodhyasingh Rajput (35). Rajput was a native of Jharkhand and was employed by a local company named Chantivala Contractor.
The authorities have confirmed that the incident bore resemblance to yet another fatal accident that occurred at Plot 24 D in May. In both the cases, workers died when the crane’s rope carrying big steel plates cut from discarded ships broke and fell on them.
And this, when the ship-breaking industry is one of the few sectors that have benefited from the global economic meltdown. The ship price per tonne has fallen to $250 in a year from the high of $750 in June 2008, indicating a fall of nearly 60 per cent. On the other hand, steel prices have fallen by only 40 per cent resulting in a good margin for ship-breakers. And with nearly 25 to 30 vessels hitting Alang shores every month, the ship-breakers are minting money like never before.
But even in this boom, Alang witnessed its first major workers’ strike around two months back. Alang yard employs close to 15,000 workers mainly in the unorganized sector. A large number of these workers are migrants from Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Bihar and Jharkhand and continue to live in hutments, with no provision of clean drinking water and electricity.
Ram Patel, the Vice-president, Alang Sosiya Ship Recycling and General Workers Association (ASSRGWA) with nearly 5,000 ship-breaking workers as registered members, had earlier told Newsline, “Though the industry was recognized in
1982, there is no proper workers’ colony even now. The basic amenities like hospitals, schools, etc are nowhere to be seen.”
Besides, getting compensation in case of mishaps has remained a tough task for victims and their families. Gama Prasad, a 38-year-old ship-breaker who hails from Gorakhpur and has been working at Alang for the last 15 years, said, “In cases of injuries, no case is ever registered. The ship-breaking companies at best give some token compensation for medical expenses.”
Prasad said, “This is the reason why these companies never employ any worker permanently.” Even in case of Ayodhyasingh, only Rs 30,000 was given to his family as expenses for performing his last rites, Gama said.
V H Patel, Deputy Director of the Inspectorate of Factories at Alang, while confirming the recent accidents denied the allegations that proper compensation to victims’ families has not been paid.
He said, “The process to provide compensation to the affected parties in both the cases has been initiated and will be completed within a month. The case falls under the jurisdiction of the Worksmen Compensation Authority and it will be decided by a labour judge.”
The compensation amount is calculated taking into account the victims’ age and monthly income, and is deposited by the employer company in the labour court, which then passes it on to the victim’s family, he said.
“About 20,000 workers have been trained at the training centre established at Alang since 2004. Though the number of fatal accidents has come down substantially, still around 20 cases a year are reported with injuries leading to permanent disability,” Patel said.
On the other hand, a Supreme Court-appointed two-member committee in collaboration with the National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH), Ahmedabad had in its survey last year revealed that the fatal accident rate in ship-breaking industry is in the range of 2 per 1000 as opposed to 0.34 per 1000 in the mining industry. Moreover, Greenpeace and the International Federation of Human Rights have put the fatal accident rate at Alang still higher: at 50-60 per year.
Nikhil Gupta, Joint Secretary, Ship Recycling Association of India (SRAI), that represents the ship-breaking companies, declined to comment on the matter.
But even in this boom, Alang witnessed its first major workers’ strike around two months back. Alang yard employs close to 15,000 workers mainly in the unorganized sector. A large number of these workers are migrants from Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Bihar and Jharkhand and continue to live in hutments, with no provision of clean drinking water and electricity.
Ram Patel, the Vice-president, Alang Sosiya Ship Recycling and General Workers Association (ASSRGWA) with nearly 5,000 ship-breaking workers as registered members, had earlier told Newsline, “Though the industry was recognized in
1982, there is no proper workers’ colony even now. The basic amenities like hospitals, schools, etc are nowhere to be seen.”
Besides, getting compensation in case of mishaps has remained a tough task for victims and their families. Gama Prasad, a 38-year-old ship-breaker who hails from Gorakhpur and has been working at Alang for the last 15 years, said, “In cases of injuries, no case is ever registered. The ship-breaking companies at best give some token compensation for medical expenses.”
Prasad said, “This is the reason why these companies never employ any worker permanently.” Even in case of Ayodhyasingh, only Rs 30,000 was given to his family as expenses for performing his last rites, Gama said.
V H Patel, Deputy Director of the Inspectorate of Factories at Alang, while confirming the recent accidents denied the allegations that proper compensation to victims’ families has not been paid.
He said, “The process to provide compensation to the affected parties in both the cases has been initiated and will be completed within a month. The case falls under the jurisdiction of the Worksmen Compensation Authority and it will be decided by a labour judge.”
The compensation amount is calculated taking into account the victims’ age and monthly income, and is deposited by the employer company in the labour court, which then passes it on to the victim’s family, he said.
“About 20,000 workers have been trained at the training centre established at Alang since 2004. Though the number of fatal accidents has come down substantially, still around 20 cases a year are reported with injuries leading to permanent disability,” Patel said.
On the other hand, a Supreme Court-appointed two-member committee in collaboration with the National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH), Ahmedabad had in its survey last year revealed that the fatal accident rate in ship-breaking industry is in the range of 2 per 1000 as opposed to 0.34 per 1000 in the mining industry. Moreover, Greenpeace and the International Federation of Human Rights have put the fatal accident rate at Alang still higher: at 50-60 per year.
Nikhil Gupta, Joint Secretary, Ship Recycling Association of India (SRAI), that represents the ship-breaking companies, declined to comment on the matter.
Gaurav Sharma
Jun 14, 2009
Indian EXpress
26/05/2009
IMO adopts anti-environment & anti-worker Ship Breaking Treaty
Ship owners & ship owning countries escape decontamination cost of toxic ships
IMO writes the obituary of Basel Convention
Allowing ongoing contamination of once pristine beaches in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, Nations's International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted an International Convention on Ship Recycling in Hong Kong, China on 15 May 2009 despite concerns about vulnerable workers and coastal environment.
Unmindful of the democratic process underway in India, IMO, EU and other participating countries unethically adopted the treaty at the IMO Diplomatic Conference following deliberations during May 11-15, 2009 even as the entire Indian government machinery remained occupied with the parliamentary elections.
A European Parliament resolution also condemned the breaking of ships on beaches this year but Europeans countries chose to adopt the treaty with such condemnable practice. Ships are dismantled primarily for secondary steel but ships are laden with hazardous waste and substances such as asbestos, oily wastes, PCBs and toxic paints. Notably, the issue of radioactive secondary steel and hazards from it remained unaddressed.
Trade Unions and NGOs working in the fields of workers rights, human rights, environment, and health, express total lack of faith in the proposed UN treaty on Ship Breaking/ Ship Recycling through IMO because its the provisions in the treaty are regressive in nature.
There were concerns over the entry-into-force criteria but now it has been decided by the IMO that the International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships should come into force 24 months after the entry-into-force conditions are met requiring not less than 15 states to ratify the convention. IMO conventions historically took five years after approval before they were finally ratified, but the IMO now had a three-year ratification target.
The treaty ends up giving incentives to those companies who exploit workers and pollute coastal environment. It is sad that now international legal provisions regulating trade in dead and obsolete ships would be in a suspension of sort.
IMO is following the footsteps of the WTO and its position on ship recycling proves that the institution is fundamentally flawed, designed to place corporate profits above the need to protect our environment, occupational health and even democracy.
Ship breaking/ Ship Recycling is industrial activity for the production of secondary steel. IMO has no competence to deal with such an industrial process which is competent only in maritime matters.
The draft IMO Convention on the Safe Recycling of Ships is a text has been prepared at the behest of the by the global shipping industry in general and European ship owning countries and ship owners in particular. It legitimizes the ongoing exploitation of workers, villagers and the marine environment and at the end of the life of a ship. As long the ship breaking operations has continued on pristine Alang beach there has not been and there will never bee safety either for workers or for the coastal environment.
The treaty fails to stop the fatally flawed technique of breaking ships through “beaching method”, where ships are cut open in the sea and tidal flats of the beaches of south Asian countries in a method in which it is impossible to contain oils and toxic contaminants from entering the marine environment, bring lifting cranes along side ships to lift heavy cut pieces or to rescue workers and bring emergency equipment (ambulances, fire trucks) to the workers or the ships Protect the fragile intertidal coastal zone from the hazardous wastes on ships.
The IMO treaty does not call for removal of ship breaking/ ship recycling operations on pristine beaches. It promotes ongoing pollution of the marine environment with impunity and it ensures that ship owners and ship owning countries escape accountability for their contaminated ships. This UN treaty does not alter the current grave yard status of shipbreaking yards in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
The treaty is an attempt to undo the work done by the global environmental movement of the past to legislate and regulate through the UN’s Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, which has been endorsed by the Supreme Court of India.
The IMO treaty does nothing to prevent hazardous wastes such as asbestos, PCBs, old fuels, from being exported to the poorest communities and most desperate workers in developing countries and ignores Polluter Pays/Producer Responsibility Principle, Environmental Justice/Transfer no Harm Principles, Waste Prevention/Substitution Principles and Principle of Environmentally Sound Management.
The treaty promotes externalization of cost of pollution that was so infamously championed by the Lawrence Summers, the Chief Economist, World Bank so that real costs and liabilities of ships at end-of-life gets transferred to developing countries like India.
The proposed IMO treaty is just a tool to further the unfair trade practices being advocated in the WTO at the behest of European governments in particular. The fact remains there is no unfair trade that does not fall under the ambit of WTO.
Local regulations such as in India requiring that imported products meet local standards on such matters as recycling, toxic substances, labelling and inspection can be easily overruled by the WTO Appellate Body, this IMO treaty makes their work easier. Consequently, we reject this act of legislation by a UN body on a subject which is beyond its competence and jurisdiction.
In any case it was unethical for the current Indian government officials to have been party to an international treaty at this stage.
The adoption of the treaty is akin to writing the obituary of the UN;'s Basel Convention on Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal through the existing text of the IMO treaty on ship breaking /ship recycling. Basel Convention is a UN treaty controlling such hazardous wastes with 170 member countries and prohibiting the export of all hazardous wastes to developing countries, and they have adopted shipbreaking guidelines calling for a phase-out of the use of beaches for breaking ships.
It is noteworthy that IMO disregards the fact that some 80 percent of the global end-of-life ships are broken in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan on tidal beaches whose soft sands cannot support crucial safety measures such as heavy lifting or emergency response equipment and which allow pollution to seep directly into the delicate coastal zone environment. No country in the developed world allows ships to be broken on their beaches. Ship breaking is possible with proper technologies and infrastructure, and enforced regulations but most ship-owners choose to sell their ships through dubious cash buyers in tax havens by under reporting the price thus indulging in a black economy.
P.S.: In the minutes of the Second meeting of the Technical Committee of the Supreme Court of India dated 3.5.2006, Ajoy Chatterjee, Additional Director General of Shipping had mentioned that “it is desirable to develop some capability by GMB for testing radioactive materials. The future plan of action of GMB may include this aspect” – which is nothing but a plain admission that at present there is no indigenous method/laboratory for testing of radioactive materials on board ships or otherwise at the site. Although among other things even this very serious recommendation has not been implemented revealing the truth about Alang beach, Indian Ministry of Shipping and IMO feels that Indian workers and coastal are immune to hazardous materials unlike the European workers and coastal environment.
IMO organised two workshops in India and made stage managed visits to Alang. Given below are few photographs from a workshop:
A delegate from Japan making a point that unlike in Alang, it is possible in his country to ensure Zero accident rate if ship recycling happens off the beach
Official from Gujarat Pollution Control Board misinterpreting the judgment of September 6, 2007 pronounced by the Supreme Court of India with impunity
World's biggest buyer of dead ships
UK delegate making a point and a IMO delegate(Norway official) looks on
Officials from IMO, EU and Japan acting as patient listeners
IMO Official calling the shots
Indian Official from Directorate of Shipping, Ministry of Shipping explaining "how to undertake secondary steel production"
Official from Basel Convention at her wit's end
IMO writes the obituary of Basel Convention
Allowing ongoing contamination of once pristine beaches in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, Nations's International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted an International Convention on Ship Recycling in Hong Kong, China on 15 May 2009 despite concerns about vulnerable workers and coastal environment.
Unmindful of the democratic process underway in India, IMO, EU and other participating countries unethically adopted the treaty at the IMO Diplomatic Conference following deliberations during May 11-15, 2009 even as the entire Indian government machinery remained occupied with the parliamentary elections.
A European Parliament resolution also condemned the breaking of ships on beaches this year but Europeans countries chose to adopt the treaty with such condemnable practice. Ships are dismantled primarily for secondary steel but ships are laden with hazardous waste and substances such as asbestos, oily wastes, PCBs and toxic paints. Notably, the issue of radioactive secondary steel and hazards from it remained unaddressed.
Trade Unions and NGOs working in the fields of workers rights, human rights, environment, and health, express total lack of faith in the proposed UN treaty on Ship Breaking/ Ship Recycling through IMO because its the provisions in the treaty are regressive in nature.
There were concerns over the entry-into-force criteria but now it has been decided by the IMO that the International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships should come into force 24 months after the entry-into-force conditions are met requiring not less than 15 states to ratify the convention. IMO conventions historically took five years after approval before they were finally ratified, but the IMO now had a three-year ratification target.
The treaty ends up giving incentives to those companies who exploit workers and pollute coastal environment. It is sad that now international legal provisions regulating trade in dead and obsolete ships would be in a suspension of sort.
IMO is following the footsteps of the WTO and its position on ship recycling proves that the institution is fundamentally flawed, designed to place corporate profits above the need to protect our environment, occupational health and even democracy.
Ship breaking/ Ship Recycling is industrial activity for the production of secondary steel. IMO has no competence to deal with such an industrial process which is competent only in maritime matters.
The draft IMO Convention on the Safe Recycling of Ships is a text has been prepared at the behest of the by the global shipping industry in general and European ship owning countries and ship owners in particular. It legitimizes the ongoing exploitation of workers, villagers and the marine environment and at the end of the life of a ship. As long the ship breaking operations has continued on pristine Alang beach there has not been and there will never bee safety either for workers or for the coastal environment.
The treaty fails to stop the fatally flawed technique of breaking ships through “beaching method”, where ships are cut open in the sea and tidal flats of the beaches of south Asian countries in a method in which it is impossible to contain oils and toxic contaminants from entering the marine environment, bring lifting cranes along side ships to lift heavy cut pieces or to rescue workers and bring emergency equipment (ambulances, fire trucks) to the workers or the ships Protect the fragile intertidal coastal zone from the hazardous wastes on ships.
The IMO treaty does not call for removal of ship breaking/ ship recycling operations on pristine beaches. It promotes ongoing pollution of the marine environment with impunity and it ensures that ship owners and ship owning countries escape accountability for their contaminated ships. This UN treaty does not alter the current grave yard status of shipbreaking yards in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
The treaty is an attempt to undo the work done by the global environmental movement of the past to legislate and regulate through the UN’s Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, which has been endorsed by the Supreme Court of India.
The IMO treaty does nothing to prevent hazardous wastes such as asbestos, PCBs, old fuels, from being exported to the poorest communities and most desperate workers in developing countries and ignores Polluter Pays/Producer Responsibility Principle, Environmental Justice/Transfer no Harm Principles, Waste Prevention/Substitution Principles and Principle of Environmentally Sound Management.
The treaty promotes externalization of cost of pollution that was so infamously championed by the Lawrence Summers, the Chief Economist, World Bank so that real costs and liabilities of ships at end-of-life gets transferred to developing countries like India.
The proposed IMO treaty is just a tool to further the unfair trade practices being advocated in the WTO at the behest of European governments in particular. The fact remains there is no unfair trade that does not fall under the ambit of WTO.
Local regulations such as in India requiring that imported products meet local standards on such matters as recycling, toxic substances, labelling and inspection can be easily overruled by the WTO Appellate Body, this IMO treaty makes their work easier. Consequently, we reject this act of legislation by a UN body on a subject which is beyond its competence and jurisdiction.
In any case it was unethical for the current Indian government officials to have been party to an international treaty at this stage.
The adoption of the treaty is akin to writing the obituary of the UN;'s Basel Convention on Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal through the existing text of the IMO treaty on ship breaking /ship recycling. Basel Convention is a UN treaty controlling such hazardous wastes with 170 member countries and prohibiting the export of all hazardous wastes to developing countries, and they have adopted shipbreaking guidelines calling for a phase-out of the use of beaches for breaking ships.
It is noteworthy that IMO disregards the fact that some 80 percent of the global end-of-life ships are broken in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan on tidal beaches whose soft sands cannot support crucial safety measures such as heavy lifting or emergency response equipment and which allow pollution to seep directly into the delicate coastal zone environment. No country in the developed world allows ships to be broken on their beaches. Ship breaking is possible with proper technologies and infrastructure, and enforced regulations but most ship-owners choose to sell their ships through dubious cash buyers in tax havens by under reporting the price thus indulging in a black economy.
P.S.: In the minutes of the Second meeting of the Technical Committee of the Supreme Court of India dated 3.5.2006, Ajoy Chatterjee, Additional Director General of Shipping had mentioned that “it is desirable to develop some capability by GMB for testing radioactive materials. The future plan of action of GMB may include this aspect” – which is nothing but a plain admission that at present there is no indigenous method/laboratory for testing of radioactive materials on board ships or otherwise at the site. Although among other things even this very serious recommendation has not been implemented revealing the truth about Alang beach, Indian Ministry of Shipping and IMO feels that Indian workers and coastal are immune to hazardous materials unlike the European workers and coastal environment.
IMO organised two workshops in India and made stage managed visits to Alang. Given below are few photographs from a workshop:
A delegate from Japan making a point that unlike in Alang, it is possible in his country to ensure Zero accident rate if ship recycling happens off the beach
Official from Gujarat Pollution Control Board misinterpreting the judgment of September 6, 2007 pronounced by the Supreme Court of India with impunity
World's biggest buyer of dead ships
UK delegate making a point and a IMO delegate(Norway official) looks on
Officials from IMO, EU and Japan acting as patient listeners
IMO Official calling the shots
Indian Official from Directorate of Shipping, Ministry of Shipping explaining "how to undertake secondary steel production"
Official from Basel Convention at her wit's end
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