Conventions, domestic laws and the prospects

Ship-breaking is a type of ship disposal process. Usually, after a few decades of their lifespan, ships are broken into scarps for recycling. Until the 1960s, ship-breaking was considered as a highly mechanised operation, concentrated in industrialised countries like the USA, the UK, Germany and Italy. Since the early 1980s, to maximise profits, ship owners have been sending their vessels mostly to developing countries, due to lower labour costs and less stringent environmental regulations for the disposal of toxic substances such as lead paint and asbestos.  Of the approximate 45,000 ocean-going ships in the world, about 700 are taken out of service every year (shipbreakingbd.info).
The global centre of the ship-breaking and recycling industry is located in South Asia, specifically Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. In Bangladesh, the ship-breaking business started in the early 1970s. With a high growth rate, Bangladesh has now become the second largest ship-breaker in the world.  The country has around 25 per cent of the world's recycling capacity, and the industry employs over 200,000 people. There are 36 ship-breaking yards located in the coastal areas of the Bay of Bengal. They scrap around 150 ships a year. The country has no iron source; the steel collected from ship-breaking makes up for around 80 per cent of the total national demand at re-rolling and steel mills.
PERFORMANCE OF THE SHIP-BREAKING INDUSTRY: Now, what about the performance of the ship-breaking industry? Despite enormous economic advantages, the industry is blamed for frequent accidents, loss of lives and environmental degradation because of disorganised and primitive working practices at some places.
In the last 20 years, around 400 workers died and 6,000 were seriously injured in the ship-breaking industry of Bangladesh (Hossain & Islam, 2006).  There is a rising global pressure on tightening the international conventions and local laws for making the ship-breaking industry a sustainable one. As one of the major ship-breaking countries of the world, Bangladesh cannot step back from this revitalisation process.
There are some international conventions and country-specific laws to guide the ship-breaking industry. The most important international conventions are Basel Convention (BC), Basel Ban Amendment, Basel Protocol on Liability and Compensation and Hong Kong Convention. The key regulatory bodies working in this area are International Maritime Organisation (IMO), United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) and International Labour Organisation (ILO).
BASEL CONVENTION: The Basel Convention was adopted in March 1989, in Basel (Switzerland). It is considered as the most important international treaty to oversee the trans-boundary movement of hazardous wastes and environmentally sound management (ESM) of wastes. For a trans-boundary movement of hazardous wastes, Basel Convention requires the prior informed consent (PIC) so that the importing country can take an informed decision about the risk of wastes and the required management procedures. Notification and movement documents are mandatory under this law. The Basel Convention prohibits trade between 'non-party states', illegal traffic and wrong documentation.
During its adoption, the convention sparked serious criticism from environmentalists and human rights groups. The environmentalists argued that rather than addressing environmental justice, the convention has legitimated the process of hazardous waste export. Under this agreement, the exporting state is allowed to shift as much wastes as it requires if it has the consent document from the importing state. Under it there is a great scope for exploitation of developing countries. Again, the ship-breaking businessmen strongly argue that Basel Convention regulates the trans-boundary movement of wastes, and ships are not wastes. End-of-life ships remain ships until the dismantling is done, and thus these are not wastes at the time of export. That's why the convention is not applicable to the ship-breaking trade.
Again, there is a practical complexity of applying Basel Convention tools to this industry. It is difficult to identify the 'exporting state' of a ship when it reaches an obsolete condition. Another criticism of the Basel Convention is that it does not take into account the liability or compensation for the damages that occur during the trans-boundary movement of wastes. To resolve this issue, the relevant working group on the convention prepared a liability and compensation protocol in 1993. However, this protocol is yet to come into force due to the pending ratification by 20 parties. To overcome the inadequacies and criticism of Basel convention, the 'Basel Ban Amendment' was formulated in 1994. The new legislation is known as a means to introduce immediate ban on the export of hazardous wastes from OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) to non-OECD countries. Environmentalists and human rights groups welcomed this amendment. However, it was protested by several industrialised nations including the US. Some developing countries also differed by saying that the amendment would deprive them of gaining economic benefits through recycling of the hazardous wastes.  Thus far, it has not entered into force due to insufficient ratifications. Nevertheless, the Basel Convention is the strongest tool so far to oversee the ship dismantling activities in an environmentally sound manner. It was the fundamental legislation to control the initial disappointing situation, and it has provided the basis for the other relevant initiatives.
HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION: The Hong Kong Convention was adopted in Hong Kong, China, in May 2009. The convention has tightened the legislation for maintaining the working condition of ship recycling yards. The convention arranges a central database at IMO which will help in monitoring the violation and compliance with the laws by ship recycling and exporting parties. Hong Kong Convention has been adopted by 63 delegates in 2009.  It is yet to come into effect. It has been welcomed by many stakeholders. Some of them have emphasised its quick enforcement. During the 4th International Symposium of Maritime Safety, Security & Environmental Protection held on 30-31 May, 2013, in Athens, one of the representatives of Turkey (a major ship recycling state) described the Hong Kong Convention as a 'holistic approach to tackling pollution from ship dismantling by introducing a system of control and enforcement of regulations throughout the ship's life up to the stage of dissolution' (Samiotis et al, 2013).
However, environmental activists and human rights groups have criticised the convention. They have alleged that the convention did not follow the core principles of international environmental law and hazardous waste law, including the Basel Convention. Another criticism is that this convention has legitimised the fatal techniques of ship-scrapping and it would hamper the transition of ship recycling industry as a safer and greener business (Bhattacharjee, 2009).  Despite some advantages over Basel Convention, the Hong Kong Convention has some unsolved areas, i.e. compulsory pre-cleaning and inclusion of gas-free-for-hot-work certificate before sending the vessels to developing countries; exemption of domestic, government-owned and naval vessels from this law; less stringent step on PIC; scope for illegal traffic, trade with non-parties and lack of independent mechanism to check the recycling facilities. Additionally, the convention did not keep any provision for liability or compensation fund which was proposed in the earlier convention.
BANGLADESH NATIONAL LEGISLATIONS: Bangladesh acceded to the Basel Convention in 1993, but did not fulfil all the constitutional requirements of the convention. The country does not maintain any national reporting system, which makes it difficult to get a clear picture of the ground-level causalities and obstacles. Bangladesh has not ratified the Basel Ban Amendment and Basel Protocol on Liability and Compensation. The Bangladesh Environmental Conservation Act, 1985 (ECA) and Environmental Conservation Rules, 1997 (EC Rules) are the main local legislations to protect the environment. However, these laws are general guidelines not specific to the ship-breaking industry. The Environmentally Sound Management and Environmental Conservation Act 1995 have specified actions against polluters. Ship-breaking yards regularly discharge pollutants like asbestos, lead and arsenic which are poisoning the marine ecology by being spread by tides. But no significant instance has been found where the authorised bodies concerned have invoked their powers against the errant ship-breaking industry units.
The Bangladesh Labour Law 2006 provides clear guidelines about OHS, workplace benefits and compensation for workers which are poorly enforced in the ship-breaking yards. The Bangladesh Labour (Amendment) Act 2013 has added provisions for shipbuilding and ship recycling workers, which have yet to come into effect. Bangladesh has not yet ratified the Hong Kong Convention 2009, although the government delegation welcomed the convention as a fulfillment of a long-lasting need.
CONCLUDING REMARKS: It is evident that none of the prevailing international conventions are complete enough to regulate the global ship-breaking business. The Hong Kong Convention may result in a clear direction if it is modified further. Ship-breaking legislations are highly influenced by global politics. Shipping industry owners are quite influential in global and national arenas. They promote the deliberations on flawed legislations which protect their interests. Environmental activists are trying to improve the situation, but, in some cases, they fail to balance the socio-economic benefits with environmental goals. Sustainable development promotes the three bottom-lines: social, economic and environmental. Organisations like the UN and the IMO should play unambiguous roles in dealing with economic disparity and making way for sustainability in this global trade.
Some initiatives can improve the situation in Bangladesh. They are:  ratification of the Basel Ban Amendment and Basel Ban Protocol of liability; strengthening national legislation; strong monitoring and inspection system; proactive role of the ship-breaking owners' association (monitoring the yards, insurance, healthcare scheme for workers); incentives for the industry for sustainable ship-breaking business, i.e. lower tax for importing pre-cleaned ships and tax holiday for importing environmental management practices. The overall national-level awareness and commitment from the government are the prerequisites.
The writer is a Graduate student, Sustainable Development, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. rumana0504@gmail.com