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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

U.N. Human Rights Commissioner Accuses Sri Lankan Government of Attempting to Sabotage War Crimes Inquiry

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch, Managing Editor

 

SRI JAYAWARDENEPURA KOTTE, Sri Lanka – The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein accused the Sri Lankan government of trying to “sabotage” a war crimes inquiry by creating a “wall of fear” to prevent witnesses from giving evidence. The U.N. Human Rights Council set up an inquiry in March to investigate war crimes allegedly committed by both government forces and Tamil rebels, known as the Tamil Tigers, during the final stages of a 26-year war that ended in 2009. “The Government of Sri Lanka has refused point blank to cooperate with the investigation despite being explicitly requested by the Human Rights Council to do so,” Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein said in his statement. “A wall of fear has been created that has undoubtedly served to deter people from submitting evidence,” he said.” “Such a refusal does not, however, undermine the integrity of an investigation set up by the Council – instead it raises concerns about the integrity of the government in question. Why would governments with nothing to hide go to such extraordinary lengths to sabotage an impartial international investigation?” The government has allegedly practiced surveillance and harassment intended to deter people from submitting evidence Commissioner Zeid said, calling it “unacceptable conduct for any member state of the United Nations which has committed to uphold the U.N. Charter.”

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=49278#.VGjB4_nF-s0
Relatives of missing persons from Sri Lanka’s 26-year long civil war hold pictures of their loved ones during a meeting in the nation’s capital. (Photo courtesy of the United Nations News Centre)

The government of Sri Lanka has refused to cooperate with the investigation into allegations of abuses by both government soldiers and members of the Tamil Tiger rebel organization. Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Gamini Peiris “expressed strong displeasure at the selective and biased approach” of the investigation and said it infringed “on the basic norms of justice and fair play.” Zeid rejected Peiris’s accusations, saying his office had many years of experience with similar inquiries into violations.

According to an earlier report published by the United Nations, as many as 40,000 ethnic Tamil civilians may were killed during the last months of the country’s quarter-century civil war. The report alleged both sides of the conflict bore responsibility for war crimes and other violations of human rights. The report claimed the government may have deliberately shelled civilians and hospitals as well as blocked food and medicine intended for civilians trapped in the war zone. The rebels were accused of recruiting child soldiers and using civilian populations as human shields. After resisting demands for an internal investigation for years, the Sri Lankan government appointed a three-member commission to inquire into cases of war disappearances.

The Sri Lankan Civil War was born out of the long history of ethnic conflict between the Island’s majority Sinhalese and the minority Tamil population. The Tamil minority faced a long history of civil and economic discrimination preventing social mobility and political participation. The Tamil militia, known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam or the Tamil tigers became one of the first militia groups to use Suicide bombing as a terror tactic. The organization is listed as a terrorist organization by 32 countries including the United States which sent a military advisory team to the island in 2005. The Sri Lankan government responded harshly to the Tamil Tigers, it been accused on increasingly discriminating against the Tamil community, treating anyone from the community as a potential militant, including children.

For more information please see:

ABC News – UN Rights Chief Blasts Sri Lankan Attacks on Probe – 7 November 2014

The New York Times – U.N. Rights Chief Says Sri Lanka Is Obstructing – 7 November 2014

Reuters – U.N.’S Zeid Accuses Sri Lanka of Trying to Sabotage War Crimes Probe – 7 November 2014

United Nations News Centre – UN Rights Chief Condemns ‘Disinformation Campaign’ To Discredit Sri Lanka Probe – 7 November 2014

The Berlin Wall, 1961-1989: The Belfast Peace Walls, 1969-????; The West Bank Separation Wall, 2000-????

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch, Managing Editor

BELFAST, Northern Ireland; JERUSALEM, Israeli-Palestine – November 9th marks the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, an event that paved the way for the reunification of Germany and renewed ties between the West and what would become the former Communist Bloc. For nearly three decades the Berlin Wall, which was originally built to prevent people in East Germany from fleeing to the West, stood as a symbol of cold war tensions and soviet oppression. The fall of the Berlin wall became a symbol, not only of the collapse of a physical barriers between west and east, but of the collapse of barriers to free movement, enterprise and expression. Ultimately the Berlin Wall has been remembered as an apartheid wall whose collapse would become an iconic moments in world history. 25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, apartheid walls are still being used in some countries, often justified as an attempt to preserve peace while, like the Berlin Wall, they ultimately remain a symbol of conflict.

Armed with hammers a group of Palestinian protesters broke a whole the the West Bank Separation Wall, which they see as a symbol of Apartheid. (Photo courtesy of Haaretz)

25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall the World’s oldest actively maintained apartheid wall still separates the poorest working class neighborhoods of Belfast, diving catholic and protestant communities on religious lines. The walls, constructed by the United Kingdom as a security measure, stood through the bloodiest days of the troubles. While many in Belfast still believe the walls are necessary to keep the peace between communities despite the achievement of a peace agreement that led to a power sharing government. While some believe that walls help keep the peace others believe the walls serve as a constant reminder of the troubles and ultimately keep the tensions alive and prevent the development of true peace and unity.

On the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall a group of protesters have attempted to bring the world’s attention to an apartheid wall that keeps their communities divided. Despite the risks from tight security measures, a group of Palestinian youths have dug a hole in Israel’s separation wall with the Palestinian territories, as a symbolic gesture to mark 25 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. The activist said in a statement about their symbolic actions that “it doesn’t matter how high the barriers will be, they will fall. Like the Berlin Wall fell – The Palestinian wall will fall.”

In 2004 the International Court of Justice ruled that “the construction of the wall, and its associated regime, are contrary to international law”. The International Committee of the Red Cross stated that the Israeli barrier “causes serious humanitarian and legal problems” and goes “far beyond what is permissible for an occupying power.”

The Israeli government argues that the West Bank Separation Wall was constructed as a security measure, intended to prevent Palestinian terrorist from entering Indian and carrying out attacks against civilian populations. However, Palestinians refer to that wall as the “apartheid wall” and see it as a symbol of Israeli oppression, in much the same way the Berlin Wall, became a symbol of oppression and division.

For more information please see:

Al Jazeera – Palestinians remind world of their own wall – 9 November 2014
Haaretz – On Berlin Wall’s collapse anniversary, Palestinians punch hole through West Bank wall – 9 November 2014
The Jerusalem Post – Palestinians break open hole in West Bank security barrier, 25 years after Berlin Wall fall – 9 November 2014
Time Magazine – From Belfast to Baghdad, See the World’s Dividing Walls – 6 November 2014

The Syrian Commission for Transitional Justice: Syria in the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearance

Syrian Commission for Transitional Justice

SCTJ Publishes a Report on Enforced Disappearance

Due to the widespread perpetration of enforced disappearance in states ruled by dictators and military regimes such as Latin America, the United Nation declared the 30th of August to be international Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearance. On this occasion, enforced disappearance in Syria should be highlighted as tens of thousands have become forcibly-disappeared over the past three years. The United Nations’ International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance classifies this crime as a crime against humanity because it entails many violations of human rights, which affect the victims and their families.

The Syrian regime has systematically perpetrated this crime for decades. Hafez-Al-Assad used this crime as a method to strengthen his rule and to silence dissents. Additionally, the policy of enforced disappearance has affected the families of the victims for many years. It is estimated that about 17,000 persons had been victimized by this crime since the 1980s. The families of the victims have been suffering from systematic governmental discrimination since 1979. When the Syrian revolution erupted in 2011, the intensity and the scope of the violations committed increased tremendously to include enforced disappearance. The documented number of cases recorded since the beginning of the Syrian revolution reached more than 53,000 cases. The United Nations acknowledged in most of its reports that enforced disappearance in Syria is being used in a widespread manner as a war tactic to terrorize civilians.

The Syrian Commission for Transitional Justice (SCTJ) affirms that the widespread perpetration of enforced disappearance by the Syrian regime against tens of thousands of victims and families is considered a crime against humanity. Subsequently this violation is one of the worst and the most widespread by Syrian regime. SCTJ urges the Security Council to investigate and refer these crimes to the I.C.C. in order to hold the perpetrators accountable. In addition, SCTJ calls the Human Rights Council to address this issue and work on investigating the enforced disappearance cases in Syria.

SCTJ published a report on enforced disappearance, which highlighted that there are more than 60,000 missing persons and about 53,525 forcibly-disappeared persons in Syria, 6722 of whom were killed including 1,348 children and 1,511 women.

The above figures reflect a challenge for us and for the entire world to end this ongoing crime, to take all the necessary measures to refer these crimes to the I.C.C., to hold the perpetrators accountable, and to put an end to the impunity culture.

Oil in Ecuador: Sacrificing Tradition and Future Wealth for Short-term Profits

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch Managing Editor

QUITO, Ecuador – Ecuador’s Yasuni National Park is one of the world’s most biodiverse places. Just 2 ½ acres of its Amazonian forest contains more than 100,000 species of insects, and is home to more plant species than the entirety of the United States. Scientists believe the forest is home to several species of undiscovered and unclassified plant and animal species. Botanists believe the critical Yasuni ecosystem could hold the key to the development of future pharmacological and other scientific discoveries. One third of all pharmacological drugs are derived from nature, mostly from plant species located in biodiverse communities like the Amazonian forests. Botanists say the preservation of Yasuni, one of the world’s vanishing pristine forests, is critical to the development of future medicines.

The Coca River cuts through the once pristine forests of Ecuador, now vulnerable to the long-term environmental effects of oil extraction in the region. Last year, 400,000 gallons of oil spilled into the Coco river in a single event. The water remains unsuitable for drinking. (Photo courtesy of Al Jazeera America)

In 2007, the Ecuadorian government announced that it wouldn’t drill for oil in an untouched section of Yasuni, known as the ITT block. However, despite this promise, President Rafael Correa announced last year that oil extraction would be permitted go ahead in the ITT block. Since then, oil companies have been surveying Yasuni’s ITT block. President Correa claims the project will help alleviate poverty, but many communities fear that continued oil production could destroy the ecological value of the region, putting its residents in danger and forgetting the economic value of the forests for short-term profits. Profits that may never improve the lives of the regions residents.

Oil production has been slowly eroding the Amazonian forests and the incalculable value of its resources, as well as the traditional lifestyle the forests sustain for the regions indigenous peoples. The Waorani tribe has lived off the surrounding forest and river alone. However, over the years, they’ve seen their traditional way of life disappear.

Wani, a Waorani tribesmen, said his children and grandchildren get sicker more often now because of environmental pollutants and introduced diseases. Newly developed roads, forest fragmentation, pipelines and drilling operations have withered away the forests, cutting off the tribe’s access to its traditional sources of food.  “Every day there are more cars and fewer animals,” Wani said. He says the oil companies came in and “damage and pollute the land.”

According to Wani, oil companies promise progress, saying that the money brought by oil extraction will improve their lives. But for a people who want nothing more than to live, as they have for centuries, in a pristine environment free from pollution and the illness it brings, the opposite is true. “The oil companies talk about helping us,” Wani said. “But it’s a lie.”

The Waorani aren’t the only people worried about the long-term effects of oil extraction. A few hours upriver from the Waorani’s traditional homeland lies the impoverished town of Coca, the hub of Ecuador’s oil industry. Last year, a broken pipeline spilled nearly 400,000 gallons of crude oil into the Coca River, a tributary to the Amazon. The spill left Coca’s 65,000 residents without access to safe drinking water. The spilled oil was traced through the western Amazon as far away as Peru. A year later, the water in the Coca River still isn’t safe to drink.

For more information please see:

Al Jazeera America – Oil in the Amazon: Who Stands to Win and Lose? – 30 September 2014

The Economist – Oil in Ecuador – 25 September 2014

Al Jazeera America – Indigenous Groups Call for Drilling Limits to Fight Climate Change – 22 September 2014

The Wall Street Journal – State Oil Firms to Invest $400 Million in Ecuador Oil Block – 12 September 2014