Bangladesh succumbs to shipping industry pressure

In a recent judgment, the High Court had granted temporary permission to Bangladesh ship-breaking yard owners to resume importing toxic ships for scraping on the beaches near Chittagong. This temporary lifting of the ban on breaking toxic ships on the beach was taken as the Supreme Court still needs to rule on the pre-cleaning of toxic ship and frame the rules that will apply to ship breaking. The High Court ruled in March 2009 that only toxic waste-free ships would be able to lawfully enter Bangladesh due its obligations, as a party to the Basel Convention. The Basel Convention places strict controls on all imports of hazardous wastes. In August 2010, the Court once again reaffirmed its judgment and most ship breaking then came to a standstill. The unlawful entry of ships containing toxic materials into Bangladesh was exposed by the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers' Association (BELA), a member of the NGO Ship-breaking Platform, who took the matter to court. As a result, BELA won the ground-breaking rulings acclaimed by environmentalists worldwide. In January and February, the Bangladesh Ship Breakers' Association (BSBA) went to court to allow the import of ships for breaking. Today, their appeal was accepted by the Court under certain conditions. The Court ordered all workers to be trained and for all ship-breaking activities to be monitored by a team of experts. But these conditions are considered merely aesthetic by the NGO Shipbreaking Platform because they do not bring any real changes to the business model of the ship-breaking industry in Bangladesh that is currently polluting the country's coastal zones and putting the workers and the surrounding communities' lives in danger. Though the training of the workers is important, breaking ships directly on beaches can never be done in a safe and environmentally sound way. "It is clear that the Court is under a lot of pressure from the ship breakers and the government as well. Declaring ship breaking as an industry last month, the government seems to be pressured by monied interests that are in favour of the industry reopening with no necessary changes first taking place", said Rizwana Hasan, attorney for BELA. The BSBA rested its case on a series of completely erroneous information filed with the court, including assertions that toxic substances PCBs (highly toxic industrial compound), asbestos and TBTs (toxic compound in ship paint) were no longer found on ships currently being sent for scraping. In fact, maritime experts around the world have calculated that significant amounts of asbestos and TBTs will likely be found in recycling operations at least until 2045, and PCBs at least until 2015. Asbestos, PCBs and TBT cause severe chronic or acute toxicity and occupational disease such as mesothelioma. An unknown number of workers succumb to long-term exposures of such hazardous materials. Better documented are the frequent deaths in the Bangladeshi ship-breaking yards due to fire and explosions caused by flammable gases and oily residues left in the tankers. In fact, since August 2010, even when most ship-breaking yards have been closed and only a minimum amount of breaking has been taking place, ten workers were killed in accidents. The greater case that will decide on the pre-cleaning of ships issue is still pending in the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court. "The NGO Ship-breaking Platform believes that Bangladeshi courts will yet find the courage of conviction and uphold established law. The courts must distinguish between exploitation and employment, profiteering from the long-term welfare of Bangladesh," said Ingvild Jenssen, director of the NGO Shipbreaking Platform. "In any case, the matter will never rest in the greater court of public opinion, as long as such a devastating affront to human rights and the environment is allowed to continue in South Asia." The writer is Communications Officer of NGO Shipbreaking Platform based in Brussels and can be reached at e-mail : press@shipbreakingplatform.org