The statement by Greenpeace and BAN, supported by trade unions and other environmental groups, follows a recent decision by the Supreme Court Monitoring Committee to allow the Danish ex-ferry Riky, containing hazardous substances such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), tributyltin (TBT) and asbestos, to be beached and cut on the infamous ship-breaking beaches of Alang, in Gujarat. Earlier the Danish government, in repeated letters from their Ministers of Environment and of Foreign Affairs, had begged India to return the vessel as it was hazardous waste under the international treaty, the Basel Convention. The ship was exported without proper notification or assurances that it would be managed in an environmentally sound manner.

"In the absence of political will, we cannot force the shipping industry to clean up their act. The SCMC's reversal of its earlier stance on Riky has exposed that no one, not even a Supreme Court appointed authority, is free from pressure from vested interests. We wanted to ensure that India received clean steel and that the ship-breaking workers could retain their jobs and their health," said Ramapati Kumar of Greenpeace India. "But enough is enough! If Indian authorities cannot stand by their commitment to international convention and national laws, and instead encourage toxic trade, it is inevitable that the industry will suffer the consequences."

India has also shocked other delegates at a working group of the Basel Convention in Geneva this week by publicly stating that it had no intention of adhering to the Basel Convention Guidelines on Environmentally Sound Ship Dismantling. The guidelines call for, among other things, a no-spill technology to be used as of 2008. India had helped negotiate these guidelines that were adopted in 2003. In a Convention with 165 Parties, India was the only country to hold the position that deems a ship is not a waste under the Convention and therefore not subject to all of the control procedures and obligations of the Convention. Meanwhile the Defence Department of India is engaged in investigations of underworld connections in Alang.

"Government authorities have shown their complete inability to implement the most basic rules and regulations to safeguard labour interests ­ the workers lose life and limb for the sake of a mere fifty rupees a day," said PK Ganguly of Centre of India Trade Unions, "The workers would be better off seeking employment elsewhere ­ the government has failed them so completely that there is no point in allowing the industry to continue."

"Decades of Government apathy and refusal to address the worker health epidemic in Alang, combined with the Government's open support for the ship-breaking industry at any cost, indicate that there is absolutely no political will to protect the environment and labour rights. Until this changes, the ship-breaking industry in Alang cannot be tolerated," said Madhumita Dutta of the Corporate Accountability Desk, The Other Media, "For the eight years that the ship-breaking controversy has raged in Alang, nothing has been done by any of the authorities to improve worker health or to reduce exposure to toxics."

Greenpeace and BAN cite the following instances of international and national laws being abused:

• Deliberate violations of the Basel Convention allowing illegal traffic as defined by that treaty, and considered as a criminal act (as in the Riky case)
• Deliberate violation of Supreme Court orders directing the implementation of the Basel Convention.
• Refusal to implement the Basel Convention Technical Guidelines for environmentally sound management of ship dismantling.
• Lack of any substantial improvements at ship-breaking yards in last 5 years.
• No plans to halt the use of beaching of ships for scrap
• Claiming that a ship is not a waste under international law in opposition to the position taken by 164 other countries at the Basel Convention.
• Falsifying Gas-Free Certificates, conducting other corrupt practices such as under-invoicing
• Refusal to obey Supreme Court orders directing the Indian Government to engage in negotiations at IMO and Basel Convention with a view to developing uniform international rules preventing the export of un-decontaminated ships-of-scrap to non-OECD countries.

For further information please contact:

Ramapati Kumar, Greenpeace Campaigner (Delhi) Phone: 011-26100373 or (0)9845535414 email : rkumar@dialb.greenpeace.org

Madhumitta Datta, Corporate Accountability Desk, The Other Media Phone: 011-51652451, email: mdutta@vsnl.net

Jim Puckett, Basel Action Network (Geneva, London) email: jpuckett@ban.org

Martin Besieux Greenpeace Campaigner (Brussels) +32 496 161 585 email: martin.besieux@diala.greenpeace.org

Namrata Chowdhary Media Officer, Greenpeace India Phone: +919810850092, email: namrata.chowdhary@dialb.greenpeace.org

http://www.greenpeaceindia.org/
http://www.ban.org/