The New Nation - Internet Edition

THE government, according to a recent newspaper report, has drafted a policy apparently to prevent entry of derelict ships made of or carrying highly toxic substances, prevent environment pollution and reduce human casualties in ship-breaking yards. A committee earlier submitted the draft of what is called 'The National Policy on Ship-Breaking 2007' to the authorities concerned and the Shipping Ministry will take the next required steps to make it effective. When it comes into effect, the policy will help improve working conditions in the ship-breaking outfits located mainly in the south-eastern district of Chittagong and marked as 'dangerous' by the international environment watchdog Greenpeace. The policy suggested ban on import of warships or nuclear power-driven vessels for scrapping. It also pursued mandatory introduction of modern equipment for scrapping waste reception, and recycling facilities and setting up of healthcare centres to prevent environmental pollution and reduce human casualties.

Due to the lack of a policy in line with the international conventions on ship-breaking, Bangladesh has been facing an acute environmental pollution because of unsafe dumping of toxic wastes in the Bay of Bengal, numerous deaths of workers and health-related problems of many others engaged in ship-breaking over the last decades. There were media reports on such tragic incidents often and on when they occurred and organisations concerned with human rights at home and abroad asked the government to adopt a tough policy to reduce health and environment hazards in this sub-sector, employing more than 20,000 people. According to available statistics, ship-scrapping units meet 90 per cent of the domestic demand for steel, but workers in this sub-sector have no legal shields for their safety.

According to the media report, the Shipping Ministry at an inter-ministerial meeting recently finalised the draft policy for placing before the council of advisers for approval. Officials concerned have claimed that they tried their best to prepare the rules in line with the international conventions. But experts alleged that the draft policy still has 'many loopholes' and it was not updated in line with

the Basel Convention of 1992 which later adopted technical guidelines for

environmentally sound management of the full and partial dismantling of ships. The draft policy says worn out ship cannot be used for any purpose other than scrapping. The exporters of the ships have to prepare a list of toxic and harmful materials and their quantity with their locations in the ship prior to export and must submit the report to the authorities concerned. The draft policy provides that the owners must dispose of all wastes, in a way that is environmentally sound and not harmful for human health before handing over the vessels to local importers and all the tanks and cargo holds of the vessels must be cleansed of inflammable and poisonous substances. The proposed policy empowers the law enforcers to restrict movement of any vessel trying to enter Bangladesh's territorial waters without prior permission from the government.