On May 11-15, the International Maritime Organization, the global body in charge of ships and navigation, will be coming to Hong Kong to unveil a treaty that will legalize the dangerous practice of breaking ships on the beach.
Shipbreaking today takes place on beaches in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. Here operating costs are extremely low. They are low because of cheap labour and the absence of expensive machinery, but also, and more importantly, because of inexistent or not-enforced labour and environmental standards.
There is currently no real incentive to change the practice of lowest cost scrapping. A ship owner simply chooses to scrap a ship at the shipbreaking yard offering the highest price without taking into account the disastrous safety and working conditions of laborers.
The NGO Platform on Shipbreaking is a coalition of environmental, human and labour rights organisations first created in September 2005 after it was realised by some of the few NGOs working on the issue that a broader base of support both geographically and in orientation was needed to challenge the political clout of the global shipping industry.
The Platform will be holding a funeral march in front of the Hong Kong Convention Center, on May 11, 2009 from 11 to 1 p.m. to protest the greenwashing that the IMO will be doing on this dangerous and unsustainable practice.
We hope that you can join us to raise our collective voices and tell the IMO "Off the Beach".
Other events are planned during the week such as a film showing and forum with Bangladeshi and Indian activists and workers. We will announce the time and venue of these events in a succeeding message.
Richard Gutierrez
Ban Toxics!