Asia

Weeks after Oil Spill Bangladeshi Government Response Draws Criticism

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch, Managing Editor

DHAKA, Bangladesh – Bangladeshi civilians continue to attempt to clean massive amounts of oil from the waters of the Sundarbans where an oil tanker rammed a cargo ship during the early morning hours of December on the Sela River causing 66,000 and 92,000 barrels to spill into the pristine waters of the Sundarbans, which means “beautiful forest.” So far the government and the oil industry itself has largely failed to manage the cleanup operation in the region where civilians, even children, have been pulling toxic oil from the water by hand without any protective equipment.  The Bangladeshi government’s chief forestry official for the region, Amir Hossain, said on December 16 that “the catastrophe is unprecedented in the Sundarbans, and we don’t know how to tackle this.”

Villagers carry oil in a barrel after removing it from the river surface, after an oil tanker sank in one of the world’s largest mangrove forests. (Photo courtesy of Think Progress)

Even as fisherman and children from the local fishing villages have taken to the waters and mangrove forests of the region to clean the oil by hand Bangladeshi Officials said the damage had already been done. Rubayat Mansur, Bangladesh head of the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society, said most of the oil appeared to have already leaked out of the tinkered and surrounding area by December 12 and spread to adjoining rivers and canals where it spread to surrounding mangrove forests. “I visited the sunken trawler this morning. Only few hundred liters of oil remain inside, so almost all the oil has spilled into the Sundarbans,” he said.

“This catastrophe is unprecedented in the Sundarbans, and we don’t know how to tackle this,” Amir Hossain, chief forest official of the Sundarbans in Bangladesh, told the press. The Bangladeshi government has come under fire for its response to the disaster. Critics have said that the government, which has allowed oil shipping and exportation in the region for more than a decade, should have had a plan in place to deal with such a disaster and protect the environment and fishing communities from the threat posed by spilled oil.

Oil from the tankers has created an environmental catastrophe in the waters of Bangladesh’s Sundarbans, the largest contiguous tidal mangrove forest in the world, which are home to several rare species of animals including the rare Irrawaddy and Gangetic dolphins and the highly endangered Bengal tiger. The Sundarbans are also home to fishing communities who depend on the rich waters of the region for economic survival. The Sundarbans delta is a UNESCO World Heritage site that encompasses some 3,850 square miles 1,000 square kilometers. The mangrove forests of the delta are a critical ecosystems, not only supporting thousands of unique species but also performing several important ecosystems functions including acting as one of the world’s largest carbon sinks, absorbing atmospheric carbon-dioxide which helps combat global climate change.

The Bangladeshi and Indian governments have come under fire for ongoing plans to expand fossil fuel exportation in the region, despite the threat to the mangrove ecosystem. Last year, Bangladeshi and Indian lawmakers initiated a plan to build a 1,320-megawatt coal plant 5.5 miles downstream from the Sundarbans. The plant would require a massive quantities of water to be desalinated, threating the region with an estimated half a million metric tons of “sludge and liquid waste” each year.

For more information please see:

Bangladesh News 24 Hours – BNP Probe Faults Government ‘Apathy’ For Sundarbans Oil Spill – 26 December 2014

Think Progress – Experts Arrive To Help Barehanded Children Clean Up Massive Bangladeshi Oil Spill – 24 December 2014

National Geographic – After Oil Spill in Bangladesh’s Unique Mangrove Forest, Fears About Rare Animals – 16 December 2014

Al Jazeera America – Bangladesh Oil Clean-Up Begins Amid Fears of Ecological ‘Catastrophe’ – 12 December 2014

Demonstrator’s Take to the Streets in Protest of “One China Policy”

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch, Managing Editor

BEIJING, China – Dozens of protesters took to the streets of Macau on Saturday demanding universal suffrage during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s first official visit to the region. The demonstrators spoke out against the “One China Policy” supported by the central government in Beijing. The protesters fear the move is simply a power grab by the central government intended on striping the country’s semi-autonomous regions, like Hong Kong and Macau, of their political power.

The recent protests in Macau come days after police cleared the last remaining protest sites in Hong Kong. (Photo courtesy of Al Jazeera)

During his visit President Xi warned the people of Macau and Hong Kong, a region racked by protests over the past few months as young demonstrators have taken to the streets to show their support for the Umbrella Revelation, to remember they are part of “one China,” as activists in both semi-autonomous territories call for free leadership elections free from the control of the central government. “We must both adhere to the ‘one China’ principle and respect the difference of the two systems,” Xi said at the inauguration of Macau’s chief executive Fernando Chui, who was selected for a second term by a pro-Beijing committee made up of 400 people in August, he was the only nominee given for the position. “This is the only way leading to sound and steady progress,” Xi added. “Otherwise a misguided approach from the beginning, just like putting one’s left foot into the right shoe, would lead us nowhere.”

On Saturday the protesters gathered in streets of Macao. “We want universal suffrage!” they chanted. The protest march in Macau’s historic district finishing in a public square where approximately 100 protesters remained into the early evening. “I am uncertain about Macau’s future, so we have to come out to make noise for ourselves,” Mark Pang, a 15-year-old high school said as he held up an open yellow umbrella in solidarity with Hong Kong’s umbrella revolution. The Macao protests come just days after Chinese police cleared the last remaining protester camps in Hong Kong.

Unlike Hong Kong, a thriving Industrial city, Macau’s economic health is heavily dependent on strong relations with mainland china, the region is the only place in China where gambling casinos are legal. Its resorts depend on wealthy high-rollers from the mainland to stay afloat. In recent months shares in Macau’s casinos have suffered. Over the past ten years Macau has become the largest gambling destination in the World, today the Casino industry accounts for more than 80% of the region’s economy.

While Macau’s democracy movement has not been as large as the movement in neighboring Hong Kong the formal Portuguese colony, which was returned to China fifteen years ago, saw its largest ever protest in May of this year. The protesters were held over proposed cash benefits for retired Macau officials, with 20,000 people taking part in the demonstrations.

For more information please see:

Al Jazeera – Protesters March in Macau during Xi’s Visit – 21 December 2014

BBC News – Xi Jinping Defends ‘One-China’ Idea in Macau, Amid Protests – 20 December 2014

The New York Times – Macau Looks Beyond Gambling As the Take from the Tables Slows – 19 December 2014 2014

Bloomberg – Macau Casinos Drop $75 Billion As China’s Crackdown Continues – 19 December 2014

The True Cost of Wal-Mart’s ‘Everyday Low Prices’: Victims of Bangladesh’s Tazreen Factory Fire Still Wait For Compensation From U.S. Companies

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Managing Editor, Impunity Watch

DHAKA, Bangladesh – Two years ago last month a deadly fire broke out in the in the Tazreen Fashion factory in the Ashulia district on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh. At least 17 women and girls were killed in the factory, which made clothing for several major American brands including Wal-Mart and the Walt Disney Company. The fire injured at least 200 workers, making it the deadliest factory fire in Bangladeshi history. Workers in the factory were subjected to sweatshop labor conditions and low pay, as well as an unsafe working environment. Many of the women and girls who worked in the factory were trapped inside when the fire broke out on 24 November 2012 because the factory management had padlocked the exits to prevent workers from leaving early or even taking breaks. Several workers jumped out of windows in an attempt to escape the flames engulfing the factory floor. One survivor, Mohammad Ripu, who jumped from the second floor in an attempt to escape the flames, said that the factory manager had said to the workers after the fire alarm began sounding that “the fire alarm had just gone out of order. Go back to work.”

A Bangladeshi woman holds a portrait of her relative who went missing in the Nov. 24, 2012 fire at Tazreen Fashions factory as she forms a human chain with others during a protest in Dhaka, Bangladesh calling for an end to poor working conditions. (Photo courtesy of Mint Press News)

Three supervisors from the factory were arrested on 28 November 2012, on charges of criminal negligence. Police cited the practice of padlocking exits allegedly used by factory management. Tazreen Factory owner Delwar Hossain claimed that the premises were not unsafe, adding, “It is a huge loss for my staff and my factory. This is the first time we have ever had a fire at one of my seven factories.” However, it was known that the building was not up to code. Investigators found that the fire safety certificates for the facility had expired. This level of negligence is common in factories across the developing world, especially in the garment industry, where workers are underpaid and often subjected to sub-standard working conditions.

Two years after the fire, survivors continued to share their stories. “I jumped from the fourth floor. I lost my eye and broke my spinal cord and leg,” Shahnaz Begum, a Tazreen worker said. “I can’t stand straight and I can’t lie down. I can’t work – I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to. I’m still waiting for fair compensation.” Even two years after the deadly fire took the lives of at least 17 people and sparked international outrage over the poor working conditions in sweatshops across Bangladesh and around the world, the victims of the deadly event and their families are still waiting for compensation from the western companies that contracted with the factory, including well known American brands.

These brands include labels produced by Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., reportedly the largest buyer at the Tazreen factory, as well as Walt Disney Co., Sears Holdings Corp, Dickies, Delta Apparel, Sean Jean, and several others. Advocacy groups say these brands continue to refuse not only to offer adequate compensation, but to even enter into discussions regarding the events with representatives of survivors and their families forward. Essentially, these brands have attempted to distance themselves from the horrific events that unfunded at the Tazreen factory in order to avoid drawing attention to the fact that their business models depend on the use of slave-like sweatshop labor.

“Wal-Mart has yet to take any responsibility for the workers killed and injured,” Babul Akhter, a representative the Bangladesh Garment and Industrial Workers Federation, said last week. Workers at the Tazreen factory say that when the fire broke out, they had just finished filling a shipment to Wal-Mart. According to IndustriALL Global Union, an umbrella group with 50 million members worldwide, US brands that bought projects from the factories continue to refuse to move forward on compensation talks. “None of these brands have paid a cent towards compensation,” IndustriALL states.

The Tazreen factory fire is often compared to the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911, which took the lives of more than 100 garment workers in a sweatshop in Manhattan, many of the women and girls who were killed in the fire jumped to their deaths to escape the smoke and flames after they were locked into the building. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire became one of the most significant events in the American Labor Movement sparking calls for stricter workplace safety standards, fair pay, and unionization across the United States. The Tazreen factory fire has had a similar effect in Bangladesh. The event reminded the world that low-priced clothing comes at a cost, and strengthened calls among factory workers in Bangladesh and around the world to demand safer working conditions, fair compensation, and even the right to join a labor union.

For more information please see:

Mint Press News – Two Years On, Bangladeshi Garment Workers Still Awaiting Compensation from Major US Brands – 4 December 2014

Clean Clothes Campaign – Agreement on Tazreen compensation announced – 23 November 2014

The New York Times – Documents Reveal New Details about Walmart’s Connection to Tazreen Factory Fire – 10 December 2012

The Wall Street Journal – Bangladesh Fire: What Wal-Mart’s Supplier Network Missed – 10 December 2014

Thirty Years Later Victims of Worst Industrial Disaster in World History Still Wait For Justice

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Managing Editor, Impunity Watch

NEW DELHI, India – During the middle of the night on December 2-3 1984 large quantities of the deadly gas methyl isocyanate was accidentally released from a Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant located in the city of Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. The ploom of gas spread over the city as About 30 metric tons of methyl isocyanate) escaped into the atmosphere in a span of about 45 to 60 minutes. Leaks had occurred in the plant before and the poor condition of the plant was known by its operators were aware that many of the plant’s safety systems were not working and its operation valves were in poor condition. The disaster would claim more than 25,000 lives and leave more than 40,000 people permanently disabled making the event the worst industrial disaster in world history. After the disaster the Union Carbide company, whose parent company is Huston based Down Chemical Company, abandoned the planed without cleaning any of the toxic waste it left behind. Today illnesses related to acute toxic poisoning are still reported in local hospitals.

Safreen Khan (aged 20) is amoung those calling for justice. Her mother Nafisha (aged 40) was taken away with the dead the night of the disaster, but was brought back home by her father Zabbar Khan when someone noticed she was still breathing. (Photo courtesy of Newsweek)

On the wake of the thirtieth anniversary of the Bhopal industrial disaster Amnesty International Secretary General Salil Shetty called on the government of Narendra Modi led  should raise issues pertaining to the Bhopal Gas tragedy with United States President Barack Obama during the President’s visit to India in January next year. “It is time to give victims and survivors the compensation they deserve. It is time to clean up the site and toxic wastes. And it is time to ensure justice and bring Dow Chemicals and Carbide to book,” he said.

A new film staring Indian American actor Kal Penn and directed by Ravi Kumar address the Bhopal disaster, exploring the events that led to the deadly release of toxic gas in 1984. The film “Bhopal: A Prayer for Rain,” opened in New York City last follows the story of Dilip, a former rickshaw driver who gets a job at the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal in the early 1980s. Dilip, played by Kal Penn, and his co-workers become increasingly concerned by the lack of concern for safety around them.

“The Bhopal tragedy is one of the world’s worst industrial disasters, period,” Penn said. “There was such a multitude of other factors at play: corruption within government, lax safety standards, lack of enforcement or oversight, intimidation, the need for jobs, and of course corporate legal loopholes.”

The film also depicts Warren Anderson, the American CEO of Union Carbide who was arrested as he headed to India after the accident, although he was eventually allowed to leave the country without facing a trial. Said his team reached out to Anderson while writing the script to get his side of the story, but were unable to speak to him. “F or three decades, Union Carbide has used USA as a safe haven from criminal charges to dodge culpable homicide. The Bhopal Chief Judicial Magistrate has called Union Carbide six times but because of their consistent no show, has called it an ‘absconder’,” Shetty said.

“We know that the safety standard in the West Virginia plant of Union Carbide was much higher than Bhopal. It is time to right these wrongs,” Shetty said. “On behalf of Amnesty International, I am here to say the victims and survivors of the worst industrial disaster of our times can’t be asked to wait any longer. 30 years ago about 20,000 people died, up to half a million affected. They can’t wait any longer,” he said.

After the disaster Dow Chemical and Union Carbide simply abandoned Bhopal and even worked to create an illusion that time has healed Bhopal’s wounds. Today the rusting pipelines and burst gas tanks remain at the site tangled with lush green shoots. Fishermen fish the toxic waters of the plant’s abandoned evaporation ponds, families graze their goats on long grass and children play in the shadow of the chemical plant where a fine coating of chemical powder from the chemical leak can still be seen. No real cleanup has occurred, and despite the continued exposure of local families to chemical poisoning, no one has been brought to justice for the worst industrial disaster in world history.

For more information please see:

Amnesty International – Thirty Years On From Bhopal Disaster: Still Fighting For Justice – 2 December 2014

Newsweek – 30 Years On, the World’s Worst Industrial Disaster Continues To Blight Bhopal – 2 December 2014

International Business Times – Bhopal Disaster 30th Anniversary: Facts about the World’s Worst Industrial Tragedy – 1 December 2014

NBC News – Kal Penn’s New Film Dives into Bhopal Disaster, 30 Years Later – 7 November 2014

Pro-Democracy Activists Force Closure of Hong Kong Government Headquarters

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Managing Editor, Impunity Watch

BEIJING, China – Thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators forced the temporary closure of the Hong Kong government’s headquarters on Monday after they clashed with police as police used pepper spray and batons in an attempt to clear the streets for the morning commute of protesters outside in defiance of orders to retreat after more than two months of sustained protestors the streets of Hong-Kong. Chaos erupted in the streets as commuters made their way to work, with hundreds of protesters surrounding the Admiralty Centre, which houses offices and retail outlets, in a tense stand-off with police. The central government offices and the legislature were forced to close in the morning, as were several of sores.

(Video courtesy of The Wall Street Journal)

The recent clashes underscore the protester’s frustrations with the central government in Beijing for refusing to address their concerns. The government in Beijing has so far refused to budge on electoral reforms and grant greater democracy to the Hong Kong. Dozens of volunteer medics attended to several people who were injured during the clashes, some of whom were unconscious and others suffered head injuries. Police said at least 40 arrests were made as a result of the clashes with police.” The atmosphere in Admiralty is very different now after the clashes last night,” said Jessica Lam, aged 20, who returned to the protest site on Monday morning. “It has become very tense, like back to the early days when the protest just started.”

A pro-democracy demonstrator screams as policemen attempt to arrest him during clashes between the Hong Kong police and protesters on Lung Wo Road. (Photo courtesy of The Guardian)

The democracy movement represents one of the biggest threats for China’s Communist Party leadership since the bloody 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy student protests known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre. Protesters have continued to take to the streets in Hong Kong in what has become known as the Umbrella Revolution despite fears of government crackdowns.

China has been criticized for attempting to stifle stories coming out of Hong Kong during the historic protestors. The government censors stories from Hong Kong, filtering references to the protests on Chinese social media and news outlets. The government has also canceled a planned visit to the former British Colony by officials from the United Kingdom. In response to the recent unrest the Chinese government told a groups of members of the British Parlmement that they would be stopping a planned visit to Hong Kong, a former British Colony. Sir Richard Ottoway, who chairs the Foreign Affairs Committee, accused the Chinese authorities of acting in an “overtly confrontational manner.” Sir Richard added that he would request an emergency Commons debate on the issue. He also added: “The real worry about this is that it sends a signal about the direction of travel that China is going on Hong Kong. Immigration is a devolved matter to the Hong Kong authorities, and it’s not for China to ban them.”

Earlier this month The House of Commons committee took evidence from Lord Patten, the former governor of Hong Kong, who criticized British politicians for not doing enough to support democracy in Hong Kong. He argued that the terms of the 1984 Joint Declaration between the UK and China, for the transfer of sovereignty to China which established a “one country, two systems” principle of governance, explicitly gave the UK a “legitimate” interest in Hong Kong’s future. “When China asserts that what is happening in Hong Kong is nothing to do with us, we should make it absolutely clear both publicly and privately that it is not the case,” he said.

For more information please see:

BBC News – China Blocks British MPs’ Visit To Hong Kong – 30 November 2014

The Guardian – Hong Kong Protesters and Police Face Off As Violent Exchanges Continue – 30 November 2014

Reuters – Hong Kong Protesters Clash With Police, Government HQ Closes – 30 November 2014

The Wall Street Journal – Violence Flares in Hong Kong as Protests Reignite – 30 November 2014