ToxicsWatch
Alliance (TWA)
To
Shri Prakash
Javdekar
Union Minister
of Environment, Forests & Climate Change
Government of
India
New Delhi
Secretary
Union Ministry
of Environment, Forests & Climate Change
Government of
India
New Delhi
Secretary
Union Ministry
of Shipping
Government of
India
New Delhi
Secretary
Union Ministry
of Steel
Government of
India
New Delhi
December 16,
2014
Subject- Urgent
Alert- Danish end-of-life toxic ship Clipper Concord (IMO No. 9232319) headed
for Alang beach for dismantling in violation of Hon’ble Supreme Court’s order,
Shipbreaking Code 2013 and Basel Convention
Sir,
This is to
urgently inform you that a Danish end-of-life asbestos laden and persistent
organic pollutants laden and heavy metals laden ship Clipper Concord (IMO No.
9232319) is headed for Alang beach, Bhavnagar, Gujarat for dismantling in
violation of Hon’ble Supreme Court’s order and Shipbreaking Code 2013. It’s
likely time of arrival on Alang beach is 6.30 AM on December 17, 2014. The real
owner of this dead and obsolete ship is Shri Christian Stadil, a noted Danish
businessman who preaches a good deal about ethics in business. This end-of-life
ship has not been decontaminated in the country of export as per Hon’ble
Court’s order. The rate of death of migrant workers on Alang beach has remained
somewhat consistent because of such hazardous ships. It is the legacy of likes
of Shri A Raja kind of ministers.
We submit that
the Ministry of Shipping must examine the issue at its meeting on the issue of
Shipbreaking Code 2013 on December 19, 2014.
We submit that
the movement of this ship under the flag of Bahamas is in violation of UN’s
Basel Convention on Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and Their
Disposal to which India is a party. It is an anti-worker, anti-environment and
anti-India step.
We submit that
Union Ministry of Environment, Forests is the Focal Point for Basel Convention.
We submit that
this ship is in violation of relevant European laws as well.
We submit that
the location of the dead Danish ship is available at
http://www.vesselfinder.com/da/vessels/CLIPPER-CONCORD-IMO-9232319-MMSI-311034000.
We submit that
the refusal to allow the entry of this Danish ship will demonstrate whether
state of affairs have changed since the days of Shri A Raja when he was the
Union Minister of Environment & Forests.
Under his tenure the Ministry of Environment and Forests became one of
the most vociferous proponents of waste dumping in India and turned the country
into a trash-servicing economy.
It must be
recalled how a Danish end-of-life ship, a ship with dubious credentials left
the shores of Denmark. Then a month later, A Raja led environmental ministry
and other relevant ministries allowed it to enter Indian waters with a flag of
a country that does not exist. It entered Indian waters under the flag of a
mythical country called ROXA and beached at Alang, Gujarat's shipbreaking yard,
for scrapping. On 15 April, 2005, Ms Connie Hedegaard, Denmark's environment
minister alerted her Indian counterpart Shri A Raja about the illegal movement
of a 51 year-old asbestos laden ship, Kong Fredrick IX. The ship was on its way
to Alang ship breaking yard, Gujarat for scrapping. The ship's new owners
Jupiter Ship Management, a Mumbai based company, had renamed it to 'MV
Riky'. Ms Hedegaard wrote: "I write
to you in a matter of great concern for me as Minister for the Environment in
Denmark - the illegal traffic of hazardous substances in ships." She said
that 'Kong Frederik IX' had left Denmark on 16 March 2005, allegedly to be put
in service in the Middle East as a cargo ship, and that it was transiting in
the Suez, on its way to the Red Sea. Ms Hedegaard had alerted Shri Raja:
"Several independent sources of information claim that the ship is now
bound for the West-Indian coasts to be dismantled and it could arrive in India
within a week. Therefore the information given by owners etc. could be
false." She also referred to her conversation with Shri Raja in New York
at a meeting of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development and their
discussing the matter in person. She appealed, "I believe our interests
are joint - and I call on you to co-operate in this case by denying the ship to
be dismantled in India - and refer the ship to return to Denmark to be stripped
of the hazardous waste." She added that by that, India and Denmark could
send a strong signal, that neither country would accept export of environmental
problems that could be solved locally, and that "we - as governments -
will not accept this kind of foul play which results in lasting damage of the
environment."
We submit that
responding to Ms Hedegaard on 28 April 2005, Shri Raja wrote: "As you are
aware India is a party to the Basel Convention since 1992 and has strengthened
the national legislation Hazardous Wastes management notified in 1989 to ensure
compliance of our obligations under the Convention. We have determined that the
ship cannot be classified as "Wastes" within the scope of Act 2.1 of
the Basel Convention." Shri Raja noted that a ship sailing under its own
power is not "waste". Shri
Raja also wrote that according to the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB), Gujarat Pollution
Control Board (GPCB) and the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) who
inspected the ship, there was no objectionable hazardous material on it. He
noted that the ship had been beached since 23 April 2005 at Alang, Gujarat.
"There are only in built insulation materials which are part of the
structure of all ships. As per Indian Laws and our position under the Basel
Convention and the IMO, the ship has the requisite permission for
beaching," he asserted to Hedegaard.
At around the same time as Ms Hedegaard's letter, Shri Per Stig Moller,
the Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs also wrote to Shri K Natwar Singh, the
then Indian Foreign Minister. This was followed-up by meetings between Mr
Michael Sternberg, the Danish ambassador in Delhi and the Shri Pradipto Gosh,
Secretary, Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF). Nothing
changed. On 23 April 2005,
"Riky" arrived for scrapping at Alang under the jurisdiction of GMB.
Even the flag under which the ship sailed in isn't perfectly clear. Shri N B
Deshmukh, Assistant Commissioner, Customs Division, Bhavnagar, Gujarat said
that Riky was carrying the flag of Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea (North
Korea). However, this version was challenged in the Supreme Court on the ship's
admission into India, alleging that the ship sailed in under the flag of Roxa,
a non-existent "country".
Subsequently, on 2 June 2005, the Supreme Court Monitoring Committee
(SCMC) on Hazardous Waste permitted the dismantling of Riky subject to the
presence of officers from CPCB and GPCB. The SCMC was set up by the Supreme
Court in October 2003 to monitor the progress in implementation of Hazardous
Waste (HW) Rules as well as a series of orders on hazardous waste matters
passed by the apex court. SCMC was informed on 24 May 2005 alleging that the
registration document for renaming the ship had been fabricated to allow
beaching in a bid to confuse the Danish authorities. Riky has since been
dismantled. The entry of this dubious Danish ship and its dismantling in Indian
waters must be remembered in the list the of India’s intelligence failures in
which Shri Raja, Shri Ghosh and Shri Natwar Singh seem to have become
complicit. It is noteworthy that although Hon’ble Court admitted the case it
never heard the matter to decide the case. Shri Raja’s position was untenable
and it belittled India’s stature.
We submit that
the Danish ship Concord (IMO No. 9232319) offers an opportunity to set matters
right and undo the damage done by Shri Raja’s tenure.
We submit that
the ship breaking activities are linked to issues of maritime and national
security as has been recorded repeatedly in the minutes of the
Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) on Ship breaking.
We submit that
the transfer of the Danish ship fails to reflect compliance with Basel
Convention’s core obligation - minimisation of transboundary movements of
hazardous waste, and as such will not prevent hazardous wastes such as
asbestos, PCBs, old fuels, and heavy metals from being exported to the poorest
communities and most desperate workers in developing countries.
It fails to end
the fatally flawed method of dismantling ships known as “beaching” where ships
are cut open on tidal flats. This is required because on a beach it is
impossible to contain oils and toxic contaminants from entering the marine
environment; safely use cranes alongside ships to lift heavy cut pieces or to
rescue workers; bring emergency equipment to the workers or the ships and
protect the fragile coastal environmental zone from the hazardous wastes on
ships. It allows hazardous substances from end-of-life ships to enter India
outwitting the motive of the Basel Convention and leaving a toxic legacy for
generations to come.
We submit that
in violation of the judgment of the Hon’ble court which calls for prior
decontamination of the ship in the country of export, the movement of this
Danish ship fails to ensure the fundamental principle of “Prior Informed
Consent”. The “reporting” is taking place only after the hazardous waste ship
arrives in the importing country’s territory that a competent authority has the
right to object and the objection allowed is not to the importation but to the
ship recycling plan or ship recycling facility permit. Thus, India is forced to receive hazardous
waste in the form of ships. The movement
of such harmful toxic ships ignores Polluter Pays/Producer Responsibility Principle,
Environmental Justice Principle, Waste Prevention/Substitution Principles and
Principle of National Self Sufficiency in Waste Management.
We submit that
if concerned government authorities in India allow entry to this Danish ship it
will tantamount to grant of legal recognition to externalization of the real
costs and liabilities of ships at end-of-life by the shipping companies of
Europe and other developed countries.
We submit that
these European shipping companies are so powerful that in order to make
national laws and ministries subservient they have engineered the allocation of
decision making regarding ship breaking from Union Steel Ministry to Union
Shipping Ministry despite the fact that the latter does not have any competence
to supervise secondary steel production.
We submit that
the European Commission’s disregard for their legal obligations under the Basel
Convention is influenced shipping companies to further facilitate the export of
their hazardous end-of-life ships to countries like India. The European
Commission’s amendment of its European Waste Shipment Regulation is regressive.
India should not become complicit in such illegitimate advances of these
companies.
We submit that
the amendment to the regulation seeks to remove end-of-life ships from the
European Waste Shipment Regulation, which is the EU’s implementing legislation
of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous
Wastes and their Disposal, and the Basel Ban Amendment. Both related UN norms
prohibit the export of all forms of hazardous waste from EU Member States to non-OECD
countries including end-of-life ships. The Basel Convention includes ships
under its regime when they are to be recycled or disposed of and when they
contain hazardous materials. Both the EU and each EU Member State have ratified
the Basel Convention and the Basel Ban. Therefore, they have a treaty
obligation to adhere to them but the proposed amendment is an act of EU
attempting to desert Basel Convention and the Basel Ban. India has ratified the
Convention. Government of India should ratify the Basel Ban to stop hazardous
waste trade.
We submit that
under the Basel Convention end-of-life vessels are considered hazardous wastes
and is sensitive to adverse impact of hazardous waste generating global
shipping industry on coastal environmental health but the proposed IMO and EU
legislations puts profit above gnawing environmental and occupational health
concerns. The fact is that callousness and complicity with regard to
environmental and occupational health makes them fit cases of corporate crimes.
The European Commission’s proposal not only undermines the Basel Ban, which
Europe has implemented and championed, it is also illegal under the Basel
Convention. Any proposal to remove ships from the Waste Shipment Regulation is
in breach of EU and EU Member States’ legal obligations under the Basel
Convention. The EU’s proposed legislation attempting to unilaterally exempt a
certain category of hazardous waste covered by the Basel Convention, namely
end-of-life ships, from the control mechanisms of the Convention is illegal
under international law and EU law. The stark act of European Commission
unilaterally departing from its international legal obligations under the Basel
Convention merits strong criticism.
It high time
India led the fight by industrialising nations to force rich countries to stop
dumping their toxic wastes on developing countries. In November 1992, at the
First Conference of Parties to the Basel Convention, Shri A Bhattacharja, the
head of the Indian delegation, told the world: “You industrialised countries
have been asking us to do many things for the global good – stop cutting down
our forests, stop using your CFCs. Now we are asking you to do something for
the global good: keep your own waste.”
ToxicsWatch
Alliance (TWA) has been working on the issue of hazardous wastes and ship
breaking for over decade. It is an applicant before the National Human Rights
Commission (NHRC), Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science, Technology,
Environment & Forests, Parliamentary Petitions Committee, Parliamentary
Standing Committee on Labour and relevant UN agencies besides Inter-Ministerial
Committee on Ship breaking. It was the applicant before the Hon’ble Supreme
Court wherein the order for creation of the Shipbreaking Code was passed. It
had appeared before the Supreme Court’s Monitoring Committee on Hazardous
Wastes, Court’s Technical Experts Committee on Hazardous Wastes related to Ship
breaking and pursued cases involving famous ships like RIKY (Kong Frederik IX),
Le Clemenceau, SS Blue Lady, Platinum II and Exxon Valdez and others.
In view of the
above, we request you to ensure that the Danish ship in question is not allowed
entry into the Indian waters and ensure that entry of end-of-life ships are
compliant with obligations under Basel Convention.
We will be happy
to share more details in this regard.
Thanking
You
Yours faithfully
Gopal Krishna
ToxicsWatch
Alliance (TWA)
Mb: 08227816731,
9818089660
E-mail:gopalkrishna1715@gmail.com
Web:
http://www.toxicswatch.com
Cc
Shri Nitin
Gadkari, Union Minister of Shipping
Chairman,
Gujarat Maritime Board
Chairman &
Members, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science, Technology, Environment
& Forests
Chairman &
Members, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport
Shri A K Seth,
Cabinet Secretary, Government of India
Secretary, Union
Ministry of Home Affairs
Secretary, Union
Ministry of Defence
Secretary, Union
Ministry of Labour
Secretary,
Secretary, Union Ministry of External Affairs
Director General
of Shipping, Govt. of India
Dr. Alok
Srivastava, Joint Secretary, Union Ministry of Shipping
Director General
of Central Excise Intelligence (DGCEI), Union Ministry of Finance
Chairman, Atomic
Energy Regulatory Board, Mumbai
Director,
Hazardous Substances Management Division (HSMD), Union Ministry of Environment,
Forests & Climate Change
Shri Sanjay Parikh,
Lawyer, Supreme Court
Member
Secretary, Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB)
Chairman, GPCB
Chairman,
Gujarat Maritime Board
Shri C A Joseph,
Under Secretary, MF Desk, Union Ministry of Steel
Collector,
Bhavnagar District
Superintendent
of Police, Bhavnagar District
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