Saima Sultana Jaba, Chittagong Community Manager
Bangladesh is one of the world’s biggest ship dismantlers: about 52 percent of the world’s big ships are demolished each year near the coastline of Chittagong. Every year, these ship breaking industries earn around US$1 billion. More than 30,000 laborers, including men, women, and children, work in the city’s 70 shipyards companies. Though ship recycling is a profitable industry, ship breaking activities carry a real threat to the ambient environment and to workers, as the whole process entails a series of risky tasks and a number of hazardous substances. The demolition of ships is considered one of the most dangerous occupations in the world.
Every year, hundreds of workers die from toxic waste-related diseases as the working conditions are extremely bad and safety measures are barely existant. The shipping industry sends 800 to 900 end-of-life ships to yards where they are recycled, mainly by hand, to recover steel. Most of the time, workers use blowtorches and hammers without wearing protective gloves. Many of the ships contain toxic materials, sometimes hidden in pipers that workers cut with their torches. These include asbestos, PCBs, arsenic-laced paint, and tons of oil and grease, most of which are identified as hazardous waste under the Basel Convention. Workers constantly being exposed to a deadly cocktail of toxic fumes, asbestos, and dust can face serious injury or death. According to the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) and Greenpeace, on average, one ship worker gets injured every day, and one dies each week.
The Bangladeshi government does not officially recognize ship dismantling as an industry, and ship workers therefore operate without a trade license. As a result of this unofficial status, Bangladeshi ship workers do not receive any government grants, subsidies, or compensation. Moreover, there is no governmental body keeping records of the ship working accidents or of illnesses related to ship dismantling.
A local non-profit organization, Young Power in Social Action (YPSA), has significantly contributed to gathering information about the injuries and accidents of ship dismantling workers since 1997. Today, YPSA is working to improve social policies at the national level, which have a direct influence on 50,000 ship dismantling workers. YPSA organizes social campaigns and does advocacy to raise public awareness regarding workers’ rights. The organization is also working to minimize the impact on caused by the pollution generated from the unsafe and uncontrolled ship dismantling practices.
Alongside YPSA, other international organizations like International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), NGO Platform on Shipbreaking, and Greenpeace are working to influence international policy markers for ensuring environment friendly ship dismantling. Greenpeace and FIDH call upon UN institutions and governments to implement an effective and enforceable mandatory regime, based on the existing Basel Convention and the existing Guidelines of the IMO, UNEP, and ILO.
The Bangladesh Ministry of Industry and Bangladesh Ship Breaking Association must use a sustainable approach for ensuring the human and environmental justice in the ship dismantling yards as well as surrounding coastal areas, and should endeavor the full implementation of its domestic legislation and its international commitments to protect the workers and the environment from the danger of toxic waste.
Photo credit: A.M. Ahad and Musa