The report, by the UN's Economic and Social Council, also urges the US to "pay closer scrutiny to the movement of inactive private ships abroad in order to ensure that export regulations on toxic and dangerous products and wastes are enforced". And it echoes the "deep concern" expressed by a number of US-based non- governmental organisations at the country's failure to ratify a string of international conventions governing issues of wastes and toxics.

Noting that the US intends to ratify the Basle Convention, but without the Ban Amendment, it also reports the NGOs' belief that ratification of the convention without the amendment would be "regressive and minimalist", doing "more to legitimise international waste dumping than it does to prevent it".

The report, into "the adverse effect of the illicit movement and dumping of toxic and dangerous products and wastes on the enjoyment of human rights", includes a chapter dedicated to the issue of shipbreaking. It finds that "fraud is often involved in the export of ships for scrapping, be it a pretence that the ship is being sold for active service, or is on a routine scheduled voyage." It urges the US to focus more closely on the export of privately-owned ships for scrapping.