an NGO denounces the “dangerous and polluting” dismantling of European ships

The NGO Human Rights Watch publishes a damning report on European shipping companies which send their end-of-life ships to Bangladesh to be scrapped in dangerous and polluting shipyards, bypassing European Union rules. It is a shocking report which describes a sordid reality on all levels with inhumane working conditions on these shipyards, a workforce made up of 13% children and who are also employed at night. Many workers started working at the age of 13. This miserable workforce is ill-equipped and poorly protected to dismantle ships on the beaches.

>> In Bangladesh, Emmanuel Macron defends his “third way in the Indo-Pacific”, torn between the United States and China

The Human Rights Watch report cites the testimonies of some workers who say they have to use socks as gloves to avoid burning their hands when they cut the steel of the hulls, they also have to use their shirts to cover their hands. nose and mouth to avoid inhaling toxic fumes. The workers, some of whom even work barefoot, handle pieces of ship that contain asbestos, without any adequate protection. Obviously, accidents are commonplace. It should be noted that in Bangladesh, the life expectancy of men employed in the shipbreaking industry is 20 years lower than the national average.

Shipping companies are assigned flags outside the EU

International law prohibits the export of end-of-life ships to places like these Bangladeshi yards. Boats registered in the European Union must be recycled in facilities approved by Brussels, in yards that comply with social and environmental specifications. Obviously, no shipyard in Bangladesh meets these strict standards. But that does not pose a problem for European shipping companies who are willingly circumventing the legislation, reveals the Human Rights Watch report.

They do this using another country’s flags of convenience and discreetly get rid of their old ships at low cost. This well-established scheme involves intermediaries and front companies which assign a new flag outside the European Union. This is why with this report, Human Rights Watch is sounding the alarm and calling for the strengthening of the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, a text which must come into force in 2025.