January

• BAN attended first continental African conference on the disposal of hazardous wastes and obsolete pesticide stocks in Rabat, Morocco. BAN submitted a paper and made two presentations to delegates from all of Africa. The first was regarding civil society and the defeat of the Mozambique cement kiln and the other one was on rational policy for disposal of POPs and obsolete pesticides in Africa.

February

• Victory! -- BAN together with coalition of activists in USA and India joined in celebrating the announcement that D.F. Goldsmith will return the used mercury already exported by ship to India and at the same time Congressman Allen of Maine announced plans to propose a bill in US Congress to prevent future exports of mercury stockpiles.

March

• Victory! -- BAN together with its Parent organization, the Asia Pacific Environmental Exchange issued a press release following the announcement of the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) and the U.S. Commerce Department that they will appoint one environmental representative to the all-industry Chemical Industrial Sector Advisory Committee (ISAC 3). BAN/APEX had joined in a lawsuit one year ago to open up the all industry advisory committee and won the case. Initially the government was going to appeal however the Chairs of the Committee went to court in an effort to reverse that ruling and block the appointment.

April

• BAN applauded the decision of the 57th Session of the United Nations’ Commission on Human Rights to renew the mandate to investigate the adverse effects of dumping of toxic wastes, and toxic products and moreover to expand it to include the transfer of toxic industries. BAN had helped considerably with the first phase of the investigation by the special UN rapporteur.
  
  
• BAN moves into a new office in downtown Seattle!

May

• BAN issues a country report card on the "Package of 4" international toxics treaties -- permanently updated and posted on our website.
  
  
• Victory! -- Following several years of coalition campaigning against the retrofitting of a Mozambique cement kiln to burn obsolete pesticides and joining in an NGO sign-on letter, Danish Environment Minister Svend Auken announced that Denmark would no longer support the burning of obsolete pesticides in cement kilns.
  
  
• Victory! -- The Federal judge hearing the industry appeal to attempt to eliminate any environmentalists from the trade advisory committee dismissed the industry case stating that the government was well within their rights to appoint an environmentalist to the committee. BAN/APEX had joined in the lawsuit to open up the advisory committee.
  
  
• BAN issued global press release applauding China's very influential move to ratify the Basel Ban Amendment!
  
  
• BAN attends the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for the adoption of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants in Stockholm, as well as the global meeting of the International POPs Elimination Network (IPEN). BAN maintained a booth at the adoption conference with literature on the issues linking the Stockholm and Basel Conventions and participated in developing the action plans of the IPEN working group on POPs wastes.
  
  
• BAN joins in Global Anti-Incineration Alliance (GAIA) press release declaring was against incineration in wake of signing of Stockholm Convention.

June

• BAN attends very important meetings of the Technical Working Group (18th) and Legal Working Group (3rd) of the Basel Convention. These meetings launched the working group and agenda charged with determining the Environmentally Sound Management of POPs wastes and also covered important issues of plastic wastes, shipbreaking as well as the study analyzing the Basel Ban Amendment.

July

• BAN attended and was one of the keynote speakers at the 2nd Annual "Waste Not Asia" Conference held in Taipei, Taiwan. The meeting was attended by about 50 toxics and waste activists from all over Asia. BAN spoke on the Basel and Stockholm Conventions and their utility to activists fighting waste trade and incinerators. BAN also took part with Waste Not Asia in a press conference in Taipei.

August

• BAN organized and released to the press a major NGO sign-on letter in opposing US State Department plans to ratify only the original 1989 Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal without ratifying a 1995 amendment to that treaty that effectively bans the dumping of hazardous wastes from developed to developing countries. The letter was signed by BAN, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Sierra Club, Center for International Law and many other organizations.
  
  
• BAN, together with the Mercury Policy Project formed a global activist network to work against the proliferation of mercury pollution, releases and exposure by forming the Ban Mercury Working Group or BAN-Hg-Wg. This global group established a list serve, internet newsletter, policy platform, informational listserve, website (www.ban.org/Ban-Hg-Wg/) and has elected representative from North and South and alternates. The BAN-Hg-Wg is designed first and foremost to provide a global NGO presence to work on the UNEP Global Mercury Assessment.

September

• BAN participated in and presented to the Ship Recycling 2001 Conference, September 9-11 in Philadelphia. BAN prepared a powerpoint presentation for the panel on Current International Regulation and Policy.

October

• BAN submits comments to Basel Convention to add section on waste avoidance to the Draft Plastics Waste Management Guidelines as well as text to prevent the guidelines from being in non-compliance with the Stockholm Convention. The Parties later decided to ignore these comments.
  
  
• The BAN-Hg-Wg attends the Sixth International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant from October 16 - 19, 2001 in Japan and presents information regarding the newly formed NGO group.
  
  
• BAN launches international survey of all countries regarding their efforts to ratify the Basel Convention and Basel Ban Amendment, the Stockholm Convention, The Rotterdam Convention and the London Convention Protocol.
  
  
• BAN hires Sarah Westerveld to work on Electronic Waste Export research in the USA.

November

• BAN and European Enviroment Bureau provide comments to the European Commission on the review of the European Waste Shipment Regulation.

December

• BAN makes a field trip to Guiyu, China to investigate E-Waste imports for recycling. Shoots video, and stills, takes samples, conducts interviews. Finds devastating pollution.
  
  
• BAN provides comments on the Basel Convention Technical Guidelines on Shipbreaking.