AllSBNews: 11/29/14

Saturday, November 29, 2014

Democratic Voice of Burma

DVB Roadshow: The magic of Inle Lake
Thailand losing ASEAN fight for China trade
Burma’s digital present and future

DVB Roadshow: The magic of Inle Lake

Posted: 29 Nov 2014 02:41 AM PST

This week, the team travels to southern Shan State to take time out on the beautiful Inle Lake.

The team experiences a day in the life of the In-tha, the sons and daughters of the lake.

Join us, as we again take you off the beaten track in Burma.

Then follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/dvb.dpdm or visit the website, dvbdpdm.com

The post DVB Roadshow: The magic of Inle Lake appeared first on DVB Multimedia Group.

Thailand losing ASEAN fight for China trade

Posted: 28 Nov 2014 11:46 PM PST

Thailand will lose an estimated US$3.62 billion worth of trade in the Chinese market to Cambodia, Laos, Burma [Myanmar] and Vietnam over the next five years due to their better labour competency and higher manufacturing quality.

“The influx of foreign investors both from ASEAN and beyond ASEAN, such as South Korea and Japan, will help to reinforce the labour capability and manufacturing quality of those countries,” said Aat Pisanwanich, director of the Centre for International Trade Studies at the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce.

“As a consequence, this will definitely affect existing ASEAN players, particularly Thailand.”

ASEAN members have a 10 percent market share of trade in China valued at $250 billion a year. Among ASEAN, Thailand is now second only to Malaysia in the Chinese market, with a 1.95 percent share.

In 2019, ASEAN’s market share in China is expected to grow to 11 percent, with China’s trade amounting to $2 trillion. During the period, Thailand’s market share is forecast to grow to 1.97 percent, but the nation’s ranking is projected to slip to fourth place, as Indonesia and Vietnam are expected to overtake Thailand in 2019.

According to the latest study on Thailand’s product competitiveness against ASEAN in the China market between 2015 and 2019, Thai products that are expected to become less competitive include rice, fishery products, textiles and apparel, shoes, gems and jewellery, electrical appliances and electronics.

Products with promising prospects are rubber and rubber products, tapioca, fruits and processed food.

ASEAN and China agreed to launch negotiations for an ASEAN-China Free Trade Area (ACFTA) in November 2001.

In the following year, ASEAN and China signed the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation, with the intention to strengthen and enhance economic, trade and investment co-operation; progressively liberalise and promote trade in goods and services as well as create a transparent and liberal investment regime; explore new areas and develop appropriate measures for closer economic co-operation; facilitate more effective economic integration of the newer ASEAN member states; and bridge the development gap among parties.

The Agreement on Trade in Goods was signed in 2004 and implemented on 1 July 2005 by ASEAN members and on July 20, 2005 by China. Under this agreement, the six original ASEAN members and China have to eliminate tariffs on 90 percent of their products by 2010, while Cambodia, Laos, Burma and Vietnam have until 2015 to do so.

According to Mr Aat, Thai exporters and authorities need to conduct more in-depth studies of China’s market and its consumers’ demands, tastes and consumption behaviour in each province, set up distribution centres in key cities and maintain the standard of Thai products.

This article was originally published in the Bangkok Post on 26 November 2014.

The post Thailand losing ASEAN fight for China trade appeared first on DVB Multimedia Group.

Burma’s digital present and future

Posted: 28 Nov 2014 08:49 PM PST

The terrain of Burma's Internet has changed fundamentally within the space of a year. But amidst the commotion over the recent launches of the first international-led private mobile phone networks inside Burma, other significant changes have gone relatively unnoticed.

In the space of a year, the size of Burma's domestic Internet – the number of companies and organisations who are hosting websites inside the country – has tripled. In September 2013, the number of locally hosted websites or "domains" was 300. By September 2014, the number had jumped to 900 and by November it had surpassed 1,000.

From a performance perspective, the rise of local sites is a boon for users inside the country. Locally hosted websites load and open more quickly than websites hosted abroad, as the digital information does not have to cross Burma's notoriously underdeveloped international Internet infrastructure. Moreover, the jump in local domains is indicative of the rise of a small but real and growing Internet economy in Burma, as locally hosted websites need local companies to put ("host") their sites online and programmers to build those sites.

Relatively speaking, the size of Burma's domestic Internet is still tiny but the explosive growth and importantly, who is a part of it, also speaks magnitudes about the changing business landscape in the country.

The growing number of Burmese tech startups, local non-tech companies who are finally going online, and Burmese government offices who are hanging out digital shingles for the first time, are contributing to the rise in sites. But the larger number of locally hosted sites is also a digital reflection of the fact that 2013 and 2014 have set records for Foreign Direct Investment in Burma. And international companies moving into Burma are setting up local web presences.

There is a common but slightly misguided assumption that mobile phone services by themselves are a relatively simple way for an underdeveloped country to leapfrog into a connected future. But, any mobile service or "last mile" technology (eg. wiMax, fiber to the home, etc) is restricted by the state of the underlying telecommunications infrastructure. In Burma's case, new mobile phone users and new towers are connecting to a sparse and decaying fiber network that is already beyond capacity.

Coca–Cola, which re-entered Burma in 2012, has a registered and locally hosted .mm domain name, although their website is not yet operational. Japan's Mizuho Bank, one of nine Foreign banks awarded a preliminary license to open a branch this past September, is in the same boat.

Car manufacturers Mercedez Benz and Mazda have new showrooms in Rangoon and new local online portals. And public facing websites are the not the only ways foreign companies have been registering a digital presence in Burma. The large Japanese mining and construction equipment company Komatsu, which according to reports has been operating in the country since earlier in the year has no website but has a registered .mm email server.

But the domain names that have been registered in the absence of any formal announcements regarding plans to enter Burma may eventually speak the loudest. Noteworthy newcomers include: 7-eleven.com.mm and Foodland.com.mm

When reached for comment, spokespeople for both convenience store giant 7-11 and Foodland, which operates large grocery stores in neighboring Thailand, said they currently had no plans to set up franchises in Burma.

Ooredoo and Telenor launched their new mobile services in August and September respectively.

Just like individuals connect to their Internet Service Providers at home to go online, large telecommunication companies have to connect to their global Internet service providers to link into the worldwide Internet. The more redundancy one has in fiber infrastructure, the more stable one's Internet will be. Similarly, the more redundancy one has in global service providers, ie. the more diverse providers a company has, the more stable that company's service will be (to a point). Because if one connection to one provider goes down, there are others to rely on.

Telenor currently has four consistent providers. MPT has six, although they are known to oddly change at random intervals. Ooredoo has just one global service provider. On Sunday, connections to 2 of the country's global service providers went down. And one of those was Ooredoo's only connection to the worldwide Internet; the company and customers were left completely in the dark. (The company did not respond to requests for comments on their choice to use only one provider.).

Since Telenor and Ooredoo opened for business, SIM card prices in Burma have plummeted from US$150 to $1.50 and customers have marveled at the ability to call internationally. But many have also complained about occasionally spotty, slow, and at times non-existent Internet and mobile services.

Generally speaking, Ooredoo, which launched first, has had noticeably more problems, problems that sub-contractors in the tower industry say were also inevitable given their choice to start their service with so much unfinished tower construction.

"We have faced operational challenges rolling out the fiber which has resulted in delays, but international fiber connectivity is still critical for our ability to grow our subscriber base and provide good internet connectivity."

For Telenor and Ooredoo to be able to provide the capacity and redundancy needed for stable service, many across the industry point out that the companies need to be as involved with putting up towers and tower equipment as they are with building more long-haul domestic and international fiber links.

Although Ooredoo has taken a starring role with regards to eye-catching marketing and corporate service responsibility initiatives, the company has also declined to even acknowledge any plans to beef up infrastructure.

Telenor's spokesperson Hanne Knudsen confirmed that Telenor is in the process of building new fiber lines; Knudsen declined, however, to say when they would be ready and where their eventual international connections might go.

For now, she says that Telenor is "leasing capacity from MPT [Myanmar Post and Telecommunications] on their cables to China and Thailand and are buying capacity from the border for the international connectivity." At the borders, Telenor, like Ooredoo and MPT, are paying for bandwidth on terrestrial cables into Thailand and China, as well as on the country's only subsea Internet cable, SEA-ME-WE 3.

Knudsen says, "We have faced operational challenges rolling out the fiber which has resulted in delays, but international fiber connectivity is still critical for our ability to grow our subscriber base and provide good internet connectivity."

Julian Rawle is a consultant in the subsea fiber-optic cable industry who first came to Burma to speak at the Myanmar Connect telecoms conference in 2013. He says, "The mobile operators can see that everyone's going to want to sell them international connectivity, so they want to get their networks up and running, and they'll discretely go out and work out the best way to provide the international connectivity that they're going to need."

And new international connectivity may already on the way.

In March of this year, MPT signed a construction contract to bring a new high-speed undersea cable to Burma. The South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe 5 or SEA-ME-WE 5 consortium cable is projected to be completed and operational sometime in 2016.

Rawle is no longer just a bystander in what may now be more appropriately referred to as the Burmese telecoms race. He was so entranced by the liberalisation and potential in the telecom market on his visit in 2013 that he returned to the 2014 Myanmar Connect conference with a potentially game-changing proposal.

He is now working with Campana, a Singapore-based Burmese firm, to bring a private subsea Internet cable to Burma. Dubbed the "MYTHIC" Cable, the undersea fiber-optic span would plug Burma into a well-connected region in northwest Malaysia and also include a branch into Thailand for extra redundancy.According to Rawlethey have funding to start a feasibility study and to make their initial down payment on a supply contract in early 2015.

Although in the submarine cable business nothing is considered guaranteed until boats are in the water laying cables, the MYTHIC Cable has started to hit necessary milestones and Rawle projects that it will be operational "sometime in 2016, before SEA-ME-WE 5". And there are whispers in the breeze of another private cable initiative, as well.

Consortium cable systems like SEA-ME-WE 3 or SEA-ME-WE 5 span large distances and connect numerous countries, but private cables can be implemented much more quickly and importantly for Burma, the advent of a competitive non-MPT funded cable could dramatically alter the cost of data in the country.

Currently, the price for bandwidth from Rangoon to the Thai border is more than double the price of bandwidth on the Thai side. As the owner of the only operational fiber network connecting Burma to the international Internet, MPT can charge a premium and does. The introduction of a competitive private cable would drive down bandwidth prices and consumers would feel the difference in their wallets.

Doug Madory who monitors the Internet for Dyn Research (formerly Renesys) says, if I were Myanmar, "I would take the private cable that connected me and run with it as soon as I can get it. If SEA-ME-WE 5 shows up and also offers great stuff, great. But, I think they would want to jump at getting a dedicated connection."

Once up and running, any new international cable will upend the Internet experience in Burma. Because of dramatic advances in the technology of undersea fiber optic cables since Burma's only undersea cable SEA-ME-WE 3 was built in 2000, a new undersea fiber connection will dissolve current constraints on international bandwidth and fundamentally alter the speed of the Internet. Moreover, analysts think that the advent of a new international undersea cable would spur rapid investment and growth in needed domestic infrastructure, much like it did in Africa.

In fact, earlier this month China Unicom reported that it finished building a domestic fiber line from the Chinese border town of Ruili through the large cities into Ngwe Saung; the new fiber-optic cable was built in anticipation of SEA-ME-WE 5, which is expected to land in the ocean town.

And other Internet "saviours" may soon be on the way.

In late October, the government finally issued long-awaited rules and regulations on how to apply for telecom licenses. Edwin Vanderbruggen from the law firm VDB Loi says that the Monday after they were issued, applicants for the new licenses were spilling out of the building in Naypyidaw.

"It was almost comical," he said, but added that it just goes to show how strong the interest is in the telecoms sector. People in line were turning in applications to build fiber optic cables, construct Internet satellites, start new Internet Service Providers, and there were even people "who think they'll get the same kind of license like Telenor and Ooredoo," he said. Competition is just heating up. "It doesn’t stop with Ooredoo and Telenor. There’s much more coming."

The biggest stumbling block to Burma's connected future may now be antiquated and unpredictable financial regulations that are hindering cross-border finance. But almost regardless, Burma's digital future and the race to be a part of are just taking off.

Naomi Gingold is a freelance journalist based in Rangoon who frequently writes about technology. You can read more from here at: naomigingold.com

The post Burma's digital present and future appeared first on DVB Multimedia Group.

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Business Roundup (Nov. 29, 2014)
‘Myanmar Needs to Talk About How to Deal With Its Past’
Bhopal’s Toxic Legacy Lives On, 30 Years After Industrial Disaster

The Irrawaddy Business Roundup (Nov. 29, 2014)

Posted: 28 Nov 2014 05:00 PM PST

Burma Is Still an 'Extreme Risk' for Business Investment, Survey Says

After all the investment hype showed on Burma in recent years, with the Southeast Asian nation dubbed Asia's last "frontier market," the country has failed to make a top 10 slot in a new survey of the world's best investment prospects.

Instead, the 2015 Growth Opportunities Atlas produced by business risk analysts Maplecroft has listed Burma as an "extreme risk" location for foreign investors.

"Despite advances in encouraging foreign investment, [Burma] remains among the world's most difficult countries in which to establish a business, ahead of countries including Guinea, Somalia, Angola, Congo and Venezuela, all of which are considered 'extreme risk,'" Maplecroft said.

But nine of the top 10 best places to invest next year are in Asia, the British assessors said, and include China, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Singapore, the Philippines and Indonesia.

"A combination of prudent fiscal and monetary policies, rapid gains in education and digital inclusion and favorable demographics, including higher proportions of working age adults, have provided a solid base for the [top] economies to advance steadily up the global income and value chains," Maplecroft said.

In Asia, only North Korea is also ranked as an extreme risk for business in the survey.

Chinese State Firm to Help 'Strengthen' Burma's Oil & Gas Industry

China National Petroleum Corporation has signed an agreement with Burma on "expanding oil and gas cooperation."

"CNPC and [Burma] will strengthen communication in energy policies, technology, oil and gas projects and trade, in order to seek for more cooperation opportunities to promote the development of [Burma's] oil and gas industry," a report by Oil and Gas Technology magazine said.

"The two sides will deepen cooperation in oil and gas exploration and development, refining, and chemicals, and carry out preliminary studies on natural gas utilization and refinery construction projects."

CNPC is the majority owner of two controversial oil and gas pipelines built through Burma into China's neighboring Yunnan province. The oil line is a conduit for crude oil shipped from the Middle East and Africa to a specially built terminal at Kyaukphyu on Burma's west coast.

Chinese companies were not among the foreign businesses that won licenses earlier this year to develop 20 offshore oil and gas blocks off Burma's coast.

The CNPC cooperation agreement was signed with Naypyidaw's Ministry of Energy.

Major Japanese Banking Group Teams Up With Burma Bank

Resona Holdings of Japan is joining up with Rangoon's Myanmar Apex Bank to provide banking services for Japanese firms operating in Burma, a report said.

Resona is Japan's fourth largest lender with more than 600 retail branches spread among three banks.

Myanmar Apex Bank was established only four years ago and is part of the Eden Group Limited. It has 47 branches in Burma.

"[Resona Holdings] can provide management systems for bank branches, technical skills for operating retail banking business, and other banking services," Mizzima news quoted Resona's president, Kazuhiro Higashi, as saying.

"The collaboration will help to service Japanese companies looking to borrow in the local currency," Mizzima said, quoting a joint statement by the banks.

Burma's Progress to Market Economy in Danger 'If Reforms Slow Down'

Burma's transition from a state-controlled to market-based economy "poses significant risks," a financial study said.

"If reforms lag and financial markets are not liberalized, the government will be handicapped in effectively financing its deficits. Lagged reforms or sustained pressures on [Burma's] current account would lead to faster depreciation of the kyat," said Mantis, a Netherlands economic forecasting company specializing in frontier markets.

"If recent reforms are successful and [foreign direct investment] remains strong, then appreciation of the kyat is possible."

Mantis said more action was needed by the Naypyidaw government to establish market-based monetary and financial systems, which are necessary to "maintain the momentum."

The study forecast that Burma's kyat will follow a gradual depreciation path in line and inflation will remain in the upper single digits.

The post The Irrawaddy Business Roundup (Nov. 29, 2014) appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

‘Myanmar Needs to Talk About How to Deal With Its Past’

Posted: 28 Nov 2014 04:00 PM PST

Matthew Bugher is the Global Justice Fellow at Harvard Law School. (Photo courtesy of Matthew Bugher)

A report released earlier this month by Harvard University's International Human Rights Clinic lays out damning allegations accusing three senior Burmese generals of war crimes and crimes against humanity.The three men, including current Home Affairs Minister Lt-Gen Ko Ko, still hold senior positions in Burma's quasi-civilian government, prompting questions from some quarters about President Thein Sein's reformist credentials.

The report is the product of a three-year investigation by the clinic that found sufficient evidence for the issuance of arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court. The clinic's work focused on a Burma Army offensive in eastern Karen State from 2005-08 that displaced more than 40,000 civilians, many of whom were subject to a variety of human rights abuses at the hands of soldiers.

Matthew Bugher, the report's principal author, spoke with The Irrawaddy about the clinic's findings and their implications for transitional justice in Burma, officially known as Myanmar, even as some of the alleged abuses continue to be reported in other conflict theaters.

Question: Why did you release this report, and why did you decide to release it at this time?

Answer: There were a number of reasons, and ultimately we thought that our memo represented a positive contribution to discussions about reform and transition in Myanmar. One of the reasons that we thought this needed to be public was that current commanders need to know that they could also be held to account and that the human rights community is committed to ensuring that we identify perpetrators and ensure that they're held accountable for abuses.

We also believe that there are longstanding military policies and practices that are still being implemented. And we believe that human rights issues are not being discussed enough in conversations about transition in Myanmar and that this transition will be stunted unless it addresses human rights abuses.

And finally, we think that the people of Myanmar need to have a conversation about how to deal with the past. These abuses that we documented are very serious concerns for the Karen population, and people throughout the country have similar concerns. Ultimately we hope that this memo will draw attention to those issues and help facilitate those conversations.

Q: Since the report's release, have you seen signs that those conversations are happening?

A: Sure, there's been a lot of media coverage about the report, and we've seen indications that there are conversations about these things. Sometimes they're very hard conversations and people don't always agree, but we are happy that people are talking about this.

I would also note that the government's response was that both sides of the conflict might have committed human rights abuses. We would go one step further and say both sides have committed human rights abuses, but that acknowledgement by the President's Office is a positive step; that 'yes, human rights abuses are occurring.'

I think we have a fundamentally different perspective on how to approach that fact: We believe that this needs to be talked about openly and that accountability is part of the solution and the government's rhetoric is saying that now is not the time to address these things.

Q: As your report states, 'abuses occurred on both sides of the conflict.' Why did you limit your inquiry to abuses perpetrated by the Burma Army?

A: When we began this investigation, it was a very different context in Myanmar. The Human Rights Clinic had previously published a report called 'Crimes in Burma,' and that was in 2009, which called for the creation of a UN commission of inquiry to look into international crimes that had occurred in Burma. The genesis of this current project was an endeavor to show that you could actually build a criminal case against individual perpetrators. And whereas a run of the mill human rights report would take a bird's eye view of a conflict and look at all the elements, building a criminal case is something different, where you actually try to establish evidence that's related to specific perpetrators. And that's what we're setting out to do.

Q: You've said that because Burma is not party to the Rome Statute, any International Criminal Court case would involve UN Security Council involvement. Can you talk more about that?

A: For a case to go before the International Criminal Court, there's a political process. Because Myanmar is not a party to the Rome Statute, for a case to move forward in relation to Myanmar would require UN Security Council action. And that would include having to get past the veto powers of the permanent members of the Security Council.

We have decided not to get involved in that political conversation. What we're trying to do is give the people of Myanmar and the human rights community the evidence they need to have this conversation. International justice is one way to address the kinds of abuses that we documented, but there are other ways: domestic prosecution, a truth commission, documentation efforts by civil society, removal of perpetrators from office. There's a lot of ways to address these kinds of abuses. International justice is one option and I think it's something that people should be talking about, but we are not going to be the ones to make a statement on which particular path Myanmar should take.

Q: You met Burma's deputy defense minister last week. What was his reaction to the report?

A: First of all, I would say the fact that I was able to have a meeting with the deputy minister, who is an active duty military officer, is a very positive sign. Years ago we wouldn't have been able to get that meeting.

That said, on the particular findings of our memo and our investigation, we didn't come to agreement. He thought that our findings were one-sided and were inaccurate, and so on the specific issues that I raised, including military policies and practices, the specific facts of what happened in 2005 and 2006, and what should happen about accountability, we disagreed on all of those things.

Q: You've called for further investigation into the allegations laid out in the report; was there any indication that the government would consider taking this task upon itself?

A: We have not seen any indication that the government plans to investigate these things. The Myanmar National Human Rights Commission has a mandate that could include looking at these things, and we would encourage them to do that, but we haven't seen any signs that this is going to happen soon. Our recommendation for further investigation is not only to the Myanmar government. We think that there's a role for civil society to play, for ethnic groups to play, for human rights community to play, for the international community. And we're encouraging all parties to begin a conversation about Myanmar's past and about accountability for ongoing abuses.

Q: Aung San Suu Kyi has herself said that she is not interested in pursuing legal action against members of the former junta. How do you explain your clinic's divergence with her on this issue?

A: We understand that there are opinions, including Suu Kyi's opinion, that now is not the time to take legal action against individuals who perpetrated crimes in the past. And we think that's an opinion that needs to be heard. What we're concerned about is that that's the dominant opinion being heard, at the expense of voices of a lot of other people who have different opinions.

I've spoken with more than 100 individuals who've had their lives destroyed or [have been] displaced by military conflict, and that's a drop in the bucket. There are thousands of communities like the one that we've worked in and millions of people who've had their lives disrupted by armed conflict. Their opinions are much different than Suu Kyi's, and I believe that their opinions are not being heard enough right now.

Q: These three men presumably are not the only government leaders who could be tried for the crimes you allege. Do you think there is a fear that any prosecution of these men could open a kind of Pandora's Box, setting a precedent that people still in power don't want?

A: I don't know whether that fear exists or not, I haven't spoken to people that would be in a place to tell me whether they're fearful or not. What we do say is that there needs to be wider investigation. These three individuals are not the only ones that could be held accountable for similar things.

Q: Have you been in contact with groups in Kachin and northern Shan states about government offensives over the last few years there? Is a similar pattern playing out against those populations?

A: To be clear, the clinic has not investigated military conduct in the northern part of the country. But we're very closely reviewing reports that are coming out of that area and speaking with people who have done research in those areas, and we're concerned about the reports of attacks on villages, opening fire on villagers as they flee, torture, sexual violence, the use of civilians as human shields and forced labor. The patterns of violence and human rights abuses that we're seeing in Kachin State and Shan State are strikingly similar to the abuses that we documented in the eastern part of the country in 2005 and 2006.

Q: What are some of the risks associated with this report's release?

A: Certainly there are those who are saying now is not the time to be presenting information like this, but we believe that this memo and other human rights reporting are the kinds of things that will help drive forward reform. I think those who are saying that this is a risky endeavor, those concerns are overblown. What we're trying to do is support reform efforts.

The post 'Myanmar Needs to Talk About How to Deal With Its Past' appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Bhopal’s Toxic Legacy Lives On, 30 Years After Industrial Disaster

Posted: 28 Nov 2014 03:45 PM PST

A victim of the Bhopal gas tragedy, a gas leak from a Union Carbide pesticide plant that killed at least 3,500 people, attends a sit-in protest in New Delhi November 10, 2014. (Photo: Reuters)

BHOPAL / NEW DELHI, India — Beyond the iron gates of the derelict pesticide plant where one of the world's worst industrial disasters occurred, administrative buildings lie in ruins, vegetation overgrown and warehouses bolted.

Massive vessels, interconnected by a multitude of corroded pipes that once carried chemical slurries, have rusted beyond repair. In the dusty control room, a soiled sticker on a wall panel reads "Safety is everyone's business."

On the night of Dec. 2, 1984, the factory owned by the US multinational Union Carbide Corp accidentally leaked cyanide gas into the air, killing thousands of largely poor Indians in the central city of Bhopal.

Thirty years later, the toxic legacy of this factory lives on, say human rights groups, as thousands of tonnes of hazardous waste remains buried underground, slowly poisoning the drinking water of more than 50,000 people and affecting their health.

Activists want this waste removed and disposed of away from the area, and feel Indian authorities, who now own the site, have fumbled on taking action—either by clearing up the waste itself or in pursuing Union Carbide to take responsibility.

"There is a very high prevalence of anemia, delayed menarche in girls and painful skin conditions. But what is most pronounced is the number of children with birth defects," said activist Satinath Sarangi from the Bhopal Medical Appeal which runs a clinic for gas victims.

"Children are born with conditions such as twisted limbs, brain damage, musculoskeletal disorders… this is what we see in every fourth or fifth household in these communities."

Sarangi admits there has been no long-term epidemiological research which conclusively proves that birth defects are directly related to the drinking of the contaminated water.

Toxic Water

Built in 1969, the Union Carbide plant in Madhya Pradesh state was seen as a symbol of a new industrialized India, generating thousands of jobs for the poor and, at the same time, manufacturing cheap pesticides for millions of farmers.

Fifteen years later, 40 tonnes of Methyl Isocyanate gas was released and carried by the wind to the surrounding densely populated area, and the extent of the disaster remains unclear and under debate.

The government recorded 5,295 deaths, but activists claim 25,000 people died in the aftermath and following years.

Another 100,000 people who were exposed to the gas continue to suffer today with sicknesses such as cancer, blindness, respiratory problems, immune and neurological disorders. Some children born to survivors have mental or physical disabilities.

While those directly affected receive free medical health care, activists say authorities have failed to support those sick from drinking the contaminated water and a second generation of children born with birth defects.

In a rehabilitation centre run by the charity Chingari Trust, located 500 meters from the factory site, disabled children aged between 6 months and 12 years gather for treatment which ranges from speech and hearing issues to physiotherapy.

"Our life changed emotionally and physically since we got to know about his medical problem when he was just 4 months old," said 26-year-old Sufia, sitting on a mat on the floor, cradling her two-year-old son Mustafa who has cerebral palsy.

"We had to stop the therapy when he was 8-months-old as it was very expensive. My husband is an electrician and doesn't earn much. With the center it is good as it's free. It's also good to meet other mothers with their children and realize that I am not alone."

Call For Clean-Up

The government was forced to recognize that the water was contaminated in 2012 when the Supreme Court ordered that clean drinking water be supplied to some 22 communities living around the factory site.

"I don't think there is any doubt now that the waste dumped by Union Carbide is a serious problem and that it needs to be dealt with urgently," said Sunita Narain, director of the Delhi-based think-tank Center for Science and Environment.

Studies by Narain's organization in 2009 found samples taken from around the factory site contained chlorinated benzene compounds and organochlorine pesticides 561 times the national standard.

The profile of the chemicals found in samples from within the site matched the chemicals in drinking water in the outside colonies, said the report, leaving no doubt that there could be no other source of these toxins than Union Carbide.

Studies since have confirmed water pollution, but the hazardous waste remains in pits in some 21 locations within the 68-acre site and buried in a wasteland outside, largely due to wrangles between authorities and activists on its disposal.

The United Nations this week welcomed a government decision to reconsider the official figure of people affected by the gas leak, and look into additional compensation, but pressed authorities to get rid of the toxic waste.

"New victims of the Bhopal disaster are born every day, and suffer life-long from adverse health impacts," said Baskut Tuncak, UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and toxic waste.

"Without cleaning the contamination, the number of victims of the toxic legacy left by Union Carbide will continue to grow, and, together, India's financial liability to a rising number of victims," he added in a statement.

Activists want Union Carbide, which was taken over by Dow Chemical Company in 2001, to take the waste out of the country, saying there are no adequate facilities in India to deal with it. They have also criticized state authorities for not pursuing the corporation for the clean-up. State government officials were not immediately available for comment.

Seventeen people living around the plant have filed a petition in the US courts to get the multinational to bear the cost of the clean-up.

Dow Chemical Co. has long denied responsibility, saying Union Carbide spent US$2 million on remediating the site, adding that Indian authorities at the time approved, monitored and directed every step of the clean-up work.

Union Carbide was sued by the Indian government after the disaster and agreed to pay an out-of-court settlement of $470 million in damages in 1989. The company says the Indian government then took control of the site in 1998, assuming all accountability, including clean-up activities.

"While Union Carbide continues to have the utmost respect and sympathy for the victims, we find that many of the issues being discussed today have already been resolved and responsibilities assigned for those that remain," Tomm F. Sprick, Director of Union Carbide Information Center, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in an email.

The post Bhopal's Toxic Legacy Lives On, 30 Years After Industrial Disaster appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Saturday, November 29, 2014

Democratic Voice of Burma

Democratic Voice of Burma

Related Stories

Related Stories

Related Stories

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Sponsor