1. Compensation 1a. Provide equal compensation to all officially acknowledged claimants. 1b. Review death claims for which compensation was wrongfully denied and include exposure related deaths after 1997. 1c. Demand adequate compensation from Union Carbide Corporation, USA by filing Curative Petition against the settlement orders of 1989 and 1991.
Contacts: U.S. - Shana Ortman - 415-746-0306 India - Rachna Dhingra - 9826167369
More than 150 Bhopal survivors and people from water-affected areas began an indefinite dharna in Jantar Mantar that will last through the parliamentary session. The agitation intends to pressure the Central Government to revisit its recent decisions on issues of compensation, health care and rehabilitation, legal action against Union Carbide and Dow Chemical, and hazardous waste clean-up. Simultaneously, a Bhopal survivor has filed a writ petition in the Delhi High Court asking the court to strike down the Delhi Police's arbitrary order prohibiting overnight stay at Jantar Mantar. “The Police order violates our fundamental right to express ourselves,” the five organisations coordinating the dharna said.
The world's worst industrial disaster has been reduced to the equivalent of a road accident. On June 7, seven persons, who knowingly approved cost-cutting measures compromising the safety and disaster mitigation in the plant, who knowingly approved an inferior technology that resulted in this disaster, have been let off on bail. Meanwhile, the real perpetrators (Warren Anderson & Union Carbide) are getting away scot-free.
People around the world are angry. Angry at the Indian Government for betraying its people; angry that the world's largest democracy has succumbed to the power of a corporation. TAKE ACTION: Send a Fax to the Prime Minister.
The government announced new compensation for victims, which will reach less than 10% of the victims. Seven billion Rupees (US$150mil) will be given out among 46,000 people, which leaves 525,000 victims with nothing.
The government has approved a clean-up of the toxic waste to non-existent Indian standards by shoddy scientific organizations like NEERI. Bhopalis fear that a hasty clean-up will put another community, where the waste will be taken, in danger.
The cabinet decided that Dow’s liability will be left to the court to decide. The Indian Government has allowed Dow to continue operating in India with no consequence.
While the proposal does include a new extradition request for Warren Anderson, Union Carbide will not be pursued by the Government, even though it too has been charged with culpable homicide.
Over the last 3 weeks, Bhopal has been the top news story in India and has received media attention worldwide. Here are some of the top recent stories:
People all over the world have responded with outrage in the last few weeks to the 26-year denial of justice in Bhopal.
INDIA No More Bhopals: An evening of Protest, Songs, Poetry in Delhi On Saturday a demonstration was held in Jantar Mantar in New Delhi to protest against the recent shameful Court Verdict on the Bhopal Gas tragedy of 1984. Mammoth protest against Bhopal verdict On June 22, 2010, hundreds of activists of KRRS, DSS and other progressive organizations gathered at K.R. Circle in Mysore to protest the recent verdict on the Bhopal gas tragedy.
Kirk Robinson is one of the newest interns to join the ICJB team. He has just finished his second year at UC Berkeley where he is pursuing a major in Political Science with a concentration in International Relations. Issues that extend across borders are a great interest of his which is why he is excited to work with Students for Bhopal! This summer he will be helping with the database cleanup, contacting donors, and working with the website and other social networking sites. He also enjoys biking, eating, and playing the trombone!
Samantha Balasubramanian is very passionate about human rights issues and excited to be interning with ICJB this summer. She graduated from UC Irvine in 2008 with a BA in International Studies. She has worked at a law firm specializing in bankruptcy law for the last year and a half. She is also involved with the Project Vietnam Foundation and will be traveling to Vietnam this summer on a medical mission to help set up medical/dental clinics in rural areas and rehabilitate orphanages.
Justice will be done in Bhopal only if the individuals and corporations responsible are punished in an exemplary manner. Union Carbide's disaster was foreseeable and foreseen and still allowed to happen. The punishment of the corporations and their individual officials must be sufficient to deter other corporations and corporate officials from also acting with such reckless indifference to human life and health. -Rashida Bee, president of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh.
Contact: Shana Blustein Ortman US Coordinator, International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal 49 Powell Street, Suite 500 San Francisco, CA 94102 shana@panna.org - email
BhopalMedAppeal: BRILLIANT ARTICLE... The Bhopal 'end game' http://fb.me/EYLFdaph (2 hours 49 min ago)
BhopalMedAppeal: Peter
and David Galsworthy are hiking the John Muir Trail in California in aid of
The Bhopal Medical Appeal.... http://fb.me/wiABDZuI (2 days 5 hours ago)
BhopalMedAppeal: Peter and David Galsworthy are hiking the Muir Trail in California in aid of The Bhopal Medical Appeal. It's 220... http://fb.me/DdsYlTQ3 (2 days 5 hours ago)
No More Bhopals: An evening of Protest, Songs, Poetry in Delhi
Kirk Robinson is one of the newest interns to join the ICJB team. He has just finished his second year at UC Berkeley where he is pursuing a major in Political Science with a concentration in International Relations. Issues that extend across borders are a great interest of his which is why he is excited to work with Students for Bhopal! This summer he will be helping with the database cleanup, contacting donors, and working with the website and other social networking sites. He also enjoys biking, eating, and playing the trombone!
Samantha Balasubramanian is very passionate about human rights issues and excited to be interning with ICJB this summer. She graduated from UC Irvine in 2008 with a BA in International Studies. She has worked at a law firm specializing in bankruptcy law for the last year and a half. She is also involved with the Project Vietnam Foundation and will be traveling to Vietnam this summer on a medical mission to help set up medical/dental clinics in rural areas and rehabilitate orphanages.
