The International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal (ICJB) and its members

The International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal (ICJB) is a coalition of people's organisations, non-profit groups and individuals who have joined forces to campaign for justice for the survivors of the Union Carbide Disaster in Bhopal. Three organisations of survivors from Bhopal play a leading role in the international network. Members of ICJB continue to pressure Union Carbide's current owner The Dow Chemical Company and the US and Indian governments to ensure adequate health care, safe environment and proper rehabilitation for the survivors of the disaster and their children. Exemplary punishment of the Corporation and its guilty officials is one of the key demands of ICJB.

The ICJB believes in:

1. The Precautionary Principle

2. The 'Polluter Pays Principle' - the idea that those responsible for polluting the environment and endangering our health should also be held responsible for cleaning up that pollution and preserving our health.

3. The 'Right to Know' - people should have easy access to information about potential or current threats to the quality of the environment and their lives.

4. International Liability - CEOs and Corporations should not be allowed to abscond from legal proceedings levied against them in other nations.

5. Environmental Justice - poor, indigenous and people of colour communities should not be targeted with polluting facilities, dangerous technologies and other threats to their health and community.

International members include Association for India's Development, USA, Bhopal Information Network, Japan, Corpwatch, USA, Greenpeace International and Pesticide Action Network USA and UK.
A full list appears below.

For more information about our work, or if you would like your organisation to be affiliated with the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal, please email us.

Membership does not entail any specific responsibilities: any contribution that your organisation makes to the campaign for justice in Bhopal is completely voluntary. The ICJB can help you determine a level of involvement best suited to your organisation.

www.bhopal.net

Bhopal.Net is a project of the UK Campaign for Justice in Bhopal and exists actively to champion, promote and facilitate the aims of the ICJB (see below).

The website has a policy of editorial independence, therefore materials published here cannot be assumed to be endorsed, or even approved of, by other members of the ICJB.

We are currently looking for people to submit news, articles, features and gossip, preferably Bhopal-related, and are particularly keen to have Hindi and Urdu contributions from individuals and media in Bhopal.

If you have a contribution or suggestion for the website please use this email address.

Bhopal.Net is regularly monitored by the BBC and other key news organisations around the world and provides them (and you) with a source of news and information that is unusually close to the ground.

Media contacts

The most up to date list is here.

ICJB aims

To achieve the six demands of the survivors' organisations - the objectives of the padyatra of February-March 2006

To ensure that the Indian authorities:

1. Set up a National Commission on Bhopal:
with the necessary authority and funds to provide facilities for health care, medical research, social support, and economic rehabilitation of the people poisoned by Union Carbide / Dow Chemical and their children at least for the next 30 years. This commission must have active participation of non-government doctors, scientists, and representatives of survivor's organisations.

2. Provide Safe Drinking Water:
Commit full funds for and agree to time-bound plan for delivery of piped Kolar Reservoir water to communities affected by Union Carbide / Dow Chemical's contamination.

3. Prosecute Union Carbide and Anderson:
Set up a Special Prosecution Cell in the Central Investigation Bureau with representatives from the Ministry of External Affairs for speedy prosecution of Union Carbide Corporation, Warren Anderson, and other accused in the criminal case of the December '84 disaster.

4. Make Dow Clean Up and Pay:
Ensure scientific assessment of the depth and spread of toxic contamination in and around the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal and make Union Carbide's current owner The Dow Chemical Company pay for the clean-up of toxic contamination and compensation for the health and environmental damage caused by reckless dumping of chemical wastes.

5. Blacklist Dow and Union Carbide:
Stop government purchase of Dursban and other Dow products and halt any expansion of Dow's business in India until it accepts the pending liabilities of Bhopal.

6. Remember Bhopal:
Include representatives of survivors' organisations in the creation of a memorial to the disaster, declare December 3rd as a National Day of Mourning for Victims of Industrial Disasters and Pollution, and ensure that the Bhopal disaster and its aftermath is included in school and college curricula.
 

Long term aims of the ICJB

vis a vis the 1984 toxic gas release

• To bring Union Carbide (now 100% owned by Dow Chemical) and its ex-CEO Warren Anderson to the Court from which they have been absconding since 1992

• Specifically, to campaign for the immediate extradition of Warren Anderson to stand trial in Bhopal

• To have Dow Chemical (which acquired UCC's liabilities as well as its assets) named to stand trial in Bhopal in place of its absconding wholly owned subsidiary

• To compel Dow Chemical to pay just compensation to the gas-victims, who have had to struggle against injury and illness for 18 years on compensation that barely provides one cup of tea a day

• To force Dow Chemical to provide for proper research, monitoring and long term medical care of the victims, including those born after the disaster who are found to have been affected

• And to release the medical information on the leaked gases withheld by UCC, as a "trade secret"

vis a vis the ongoing pollution of soil and drinking water

• To hold Dow Chemical liable for Union Carbide's undischarged responsibilities in Bhopal

• To force Dow to pay for the clean-up, to the highest applicable world standards, of the contaminated Union Carbide factory site in Bhopal (Greenpeace has prepared guidelines)

• Specifically, to force Dow Chemical to pay not just for removing and safely disposing of the thousands of tons of toxins abandoned by Union Carbide within the site, but for the clean-up of surrounding land, of ground water, and of local drinking water supplies, which have become contaminated by chemicals leaking from the factory

• To make Dow pay just and adequate compensation to those whose health and livelihoods have been affected by the poisoning of land and water by its subsidiary's abandoned factory

• To compel Dow Chemical to provide for research, monitoring and adequate long term medical care of the victims, including any as yet unborn who may subsequently be found to have been affected by the poisoning of land and water

• To compel Dow Chemical to provide clean, safe drinking water for communities whose water supplies have been polluted

 

ICJB Members

How to join the ICJB

If your organisation supports ICJB’s demands and believes in the following principles (and has no association with the Dow Chemical Company or its subsidiaries), you can become a member of the Coalition:

1. The ‘Polluter Pays’ Principle—the idea that those responsible for polluting the environment and endangering our health should also be held responsible for cleaning up that pollution and preserving our health.

2. The “Right to Know”—people should have easy access to information about potential or current threats to the quality of the environment and their lives.

3. International Liability—CEOs and Corporations should not be allowed to abscond from legal proceedings levied against them in other nations.

4. Environmental Justice—poor, indigenous and people of color communities should not be targeted with polluting facilities, dangerous technologies and other threats to their health and community.

Membership does not entail any specific responsibilities: any contribution that your organisation makes to the campaign for justice in Bhopal is completely voluntary. The ICJB can help you determine a level of involvement that’s suitable for your organisation.

For more information about our campaign, or if you would like your organisation to be affiliated with the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal, please email us.

SUGGESTED KEYWORD SEARCHES OF BHOPAL.NET

poison
contamination
"drinking water"
groundwater
"class action"
discovery

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Sign the petition to Dow Chemical asking them to accept their responsibilities and clear up the site.

If you are a student, consider forming a support group at your college. Details of how, resources and support from www.studentsforbhopal.org

Make a donation to the Bhopal Medical Appeal and help fund the free Sambhavna Clinic which provides free medical care to gas- and water-affected people