SHIPBREAKING (Bangladesh) :
Shipbreakers in Chittagong
> > > shipbreakers in Bangladesh (complete gallery pictures)
SYNOPSIS :
2009 : Rizwanna Hassan wins the Goldman Prize (Nobel Prize for Environment) for her legal battle against shipbreaking activities in Bangladesh.
2011-2012 : A record total of cargo ships and oil tankers have to be decomissionned. A big part of them is expected on the open beaches of Bangladesh...
Shipbreaking is a controversial industry. It used to be considered as a highly mechanized operation, concentrated in
industrialized countries. But in order to reduce costs, vessels were sent in the eighties to the scrap yards of India (on
Alang Beach), Pakistan, Bangladesh (in Chittagong), etc. where salary, health, safety and working standards are
minimal, and workers desperate for work. The positive economic and recycling impacts are then counterbalanced by
the Human and Labor rights violations and Environmental pollution happening in those ship breaking yards on Alang
beach (India) and in Chittagong (Bangladesh).
About the shipbreakers : Bangladesh has the largest shipbreaking area, directly settled on an open beach (no dry
dock, as in Alang - India). Children working barefoot on sheet metal, workers breathing asbestos all day long or
risking an explosion from fuel residues on the ships, huge amounts of toxic materials dumped directly to the sea on
the open beach, etc. are some examples of the everyday life on the shipbreaking yards in Bangladesh (Chittagong) or
in India (Alang Beach).
Shipbreaking yards are clearly violating international and national laws (Basel Convention, requirements for
environmental clearance, Labour Act, etc.) but western governments which are providing the ships ending their life
in those ship graveyards, seem to remain deaf and blind at the time more ships have to be decommissioned in the
next years, and the Bangladeshi government is mostly adopting a status quo on such a delicate issue. In this way, a
legal battle is now going on thanks to both international and local environmental/social NGOs to contribute
implementing rules on how to scrap those ships in a fair way.
Of course, the yard owners are aware of this situation, and are carefully keeping the doors of those ships graveyards
closed to medias and NGOs. That is explaining the scarcity of photo and video essays on the situation inside the
shipbreaking yards. This long-term work intends to fill this gap.
About one hundred thousand workers worldwide are employed in shipbreaking, and thousands of those
shipbreakers have already been dying over the last twenty years because of accidents during the ship demolition
(excluding the deaths from diseases caused by toxic fumes and materials workers are exposed to all the time).
Greenpeace, FIDH (International Federation for Human Rights) and the ILO (International Labour Organisation) have
been pointing this industry as the deadliest one in the world.
ABOUT PIERRE TORSET - PHOTOGRAPHE IN POITIERS :
Based in Poitiers, the photographer Pierre Torset is sharing his time between some documentary photography and photo-journalism by offering picture stories and reportage to the Press and Edition sector (magazine, newspapers, agencies) in both social and tourism issues. He is also working as a local photographer in France, mainly by doing corporate pictures in France and in Poitiers (hometown).
You can find more about his work in the Stories Index or in the Visitors Page for a quick overview of his work, by clicking here > Photographe Poitiers (choose English Version, then VISITORS Page). More external links about his work in the Contact Page.
Pour voir les reportages (avec présentation et légendes) en français > > > 