Above Photo: Giles Clarke, Reportage by Getty (http://www.gilesnclarke.com/)
On the occasion of the United Nations Social Justice Day (February 20th) supporters of the survivors of the Union Carbide gas leak in Bhopal today demonstrated at the United Nation’s office in New Delhi asking the UN to provide much needed technical assistance for the survivors of the world’s worst industrial disaster. The Bhopal supporters also called upon the UN to terminate its association with Dow Chemical Company, USA in view of its continuing violations of human rights through refusal to carry out toxic clean up in Bhopal.
The supporters said that it was a matter of serious concern that almost 30 years into disaster in Bhopal, not one of the UN agencies has lived up to its mandate by providing technical and other assistance towards the continuing humanitarian crisis in Bhopal. They said that while the UN has been negligent towards its responsibilities in Bhopal it has actively built its association with the corporation responsible for the ongoing disaster in Bhopal.
The supporters handed over a letter from the Bhopal survivors meant for the Secretary General: In this letter survivors demanded that the United Nations terminate the membership of Dow Chemical, current owner of Union Carbide, in the United Nations Foundation for its ongoing violations of the human rights of the people of Bhopal. They also announced that another group of supporters in the USA also delivered a copy of the letter to the UN Secretary General’s office in New York today.
In their letter the survivors said that different UN agencies could provide vital technical assistance towards medical relief and environmental remediation in Bhopal. However, agencies such as the World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have chosen to remain quiet for the last 30 years.
In their letter to the UN Secretary General, the Bhopal survivors have called for assistance from WHO for developing treatment protocols for exposure induced chronic illnesses. They also asked for technical assistance from UNEP for scientific assessment of the contamination of soil and ground water in and around Union Carbide’s abandoned factory in Bhopal.
The organizations urged the Secretary General to direct the United Nations Human Rights Council to produce a report on the ongoing human rights violations in Bhopal due to the acts of omission and commission by the two US corporations.
To,
The Secretary General,
Ban Ki-moon
United Nations Organization
1st Ave. and 46th street
New York, NY 10017 USA
February 20, 2014
Sub: 30th Anniversary Appeal from Survivors of the Union Carbide Disaster in Bhopal, India.
Dear Sir,
On behalf of five organizations of the survivors of the December 1984 Union Carbide gas leak in Bhopal, India, we are writing to you for assistance by different UN agencies to help rebuild the city devastated by the world’s worst industrial disaster.
This is the year of the 30th anniversary of the disaster in Bhopal. Hundreds of people are still dying every year from the poisons they inhaled little past midnight of December 3, 1984. Today in Bhopal close to 150, 000 people are battling chronic illnesses and tens of thousands of children born after the disaster suffer growth and development disorders. Union Carbide continues to withhold medical information on leaked gases as “trade secrets” and the appropriate medical treatment for exposure induced illnesses remain to be available to the chronically ill survivors.
While Union Carbide was taken over by The Dow Chemical Company in 2001, its pesticide factory lies abandoned in Bhopal. The Indian government’s scientific agency has recently reported toxic chemicals and heavy metals in groundwater as far as 3 kilometres from the factory. These poisons are leaching from recklessly dumped hazardous waste and are endangering the health of 50 thousand neighbourhood residents who have drunk the local groundwater for over two decades. A comprehensive scientific assessment of the depth and spread of Dow Chemical’s contaminants, essential for designing interventions for environmental remediation, remains to be carried out.
Through this letter we urge you to direct different UN agencies to take stock of the ongoing disasters in Bhopal with a view to providing technical assistance in the areas of health care, medical research and environmental assessment.
In particular we look forward to assistance from WHO in developing effective treatment protocols for disaster related illnesses, from UNEP in scientific assessment of the environmental damage wrought by Union Carbide and now Dow Chemical and from United Nations Human Rights Council for the production of a report on the ongoing human rights violations in Bhopal due to the acts of omission and commission by the two US corporations.
Further we call upon you to terminate the membership of The Dow Chemical Company, USA in the United Nations Foundation in view of its continuing violation of the human rights of the people of Bhopal through denial of toxic clean up in and around the abandoned Union Carbide factory.
We enclose a brief fact sheet on the current situation in Bhopal and with regard to the US corporations. We will be happy to send you additional information that you may need before taking any decision on these urgent matters.
We hope that the UN will provide much needed assistance to the survivors of Bhopal and drop Dow Chemical as its “Partner” before the disaster enters its fourth decade this December.
Thanking you.
Yours sincerely,
Rashida Bi, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh
Nawab Khan, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha Balkrishna Namdeo,Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pension Bhogi Sangharsh Morcha Satinath Sarangi, Rachna Dhingra, Bhopal Group for Information and Action Safreen Khan,Children Against Dow Carbide
Contact : c/o 44, Sant Kanwar Ram Nagar, Berasia Road, Bhopal 462038;
Email: justiceinbhopalnow@gmail.com
For more information on the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal, North America (ICJB-NA), please contact:
Reena Shadaan
E-mail: reena.shadaan@icjb.org