The activists of various green groups called on the French authorities on Monday, urging them not to scrap the decommissioned French warship - Clemenceau - in ship-breaking yards in India.
Demanding stricter regime for ship-breaking industry worldwide in general and India and Bangladesh in particular, the workers of international non governmental organisation, Greenpeace along with organisations like Corporate Accountability Desk and Centre for Indian Trade Unions urged the French government to not to dump the highly-toxic ship on the Indian shipyard at Alang in Gujarat.
"Dumping Clemenceau on India or any other Asian ship breaking yard not equipped to deal with this toxic behemoth would be highly hazardous to the unprotected, vulnerable and poor workers," said Shailendra Yashwant, Campaign Director, Greenpeace India.
Earlier in the day, Greenpeace activists from Europe and India boarded the heavily-guarded Clemenceau, currently parked at the French naval base in Toulon and painted 'Asbestos-carrier - Stay out of India' on the hull of the aircraft-carrier.
The activists were protesting against foreign ships that were transported, some of them allegedly illegally to shipping yards in India and Bangladesh where they were scrapped, primarily for their steel content.
Besides providing employment to thousands of workers in Asia, it allows to recycle many of the materials used in the ship's construction. However, the activists allege it is a dangerous job that demands urgent intervention from the government.
"Ship-breaking is a dirty job. Almost all vessels slated for breaking contain hazardous substances. The high amount of toxic substances like asbestos, polychlorinated phenyl and other heavy metals inherent in the ship's structure cause asbestosis, and various types of cancer in the workers," said Madhumita Dutta, Corporate Accountability Desk.
"Not just this, poor working and environmental conditions prevail on these yards. The workers are unprotected and prone to accidents due to steel-cutting and explosions while scrapping the ship," she added.
Demanding that end of life ships like Clemenceau be decontaminated before they are packed off to shipping yards in Asia, Yashwant said the countries that are signatories to the Basel convention - that regulates the shipping industry and recycling activities of the end-of-life ships worldwide - need to adhere to it more strictly.
"It is possible to decontaminate the ship of asbestos and other toxic materials by 90 per cent. Once it is done, then the ship does not pose such a big danger to workers scrapping it to make steel. But because it is so cost-extensive, the countries send it to countries like India and Bangladesh, where ship-breaking is an uncontrolled activity and authorities are
openly flouting laws," he added.
