The world has now acquired ample experience of industrial and environmental hazards. Lessons must be learned from these experiences so that those who have died and suffered will not have done so entirely in vain. —Judgement of the Permanent Peoples Tribunal on Human Rights and Industrial Hazards, Bhopal, India, October 1992
In December 1994 the Pesticides Trust [now PAN UK] hosted a Tribunal on
Industrial Hazards and Human Rights to investigate the continuing impact of
industrial hazards on communities, workers and the environment. This was the
fourth in a series of tribunals where Judges heard evidence of the specific
case of the Bhopal, as well as on hazards arising from industries and use of
industrial processes, including pesticides, mining and many other
industries.
On the basis of evidence from communities, workers,
doctors, lawyers, scientists, engineers, and other experts, a Charter on
Industrial Hazards and Human Rights was drafted in the spirit of learning
from the past. Its substance, and hence its authority, derives from the
collective experience of those who have lived with the consequences of
industrial hazards.
Despite diverse backgrounds and experiences, those
testifying at the Tribunals told a common story. Industrial hazards are
proliferating on a global scale, and they pose a serious threat to human
life and health. Moreover, the existing economic, legal and medical systems
are not responding adequately to this feature of globalisation. Victims’
groups voiced a common demand for protection from death, injury, and
persistent insecurity. Expert testimony highlighted instances of best
practice, but also described the main features of an international order in
which hazards are promoted, traded, and protected without effective
controls.
The Charter sets out demands of best practice and the
conditions essential for an environment free from hazards. Its 39 articles
emphasise the particular need to address the impact of industrial hazards on
women, indigenous peoples and minority groups.
Over 300 groups and individuals have been consulted in
the process of developing the Charter, and a final version was approved by
the Permanent Peoples Tribunal in early 1996. While drafted in a
legalistic language, the content directly reflects the views of those with
immediate experience of industrial hazards. The Charter is a set of demands
to be seized and used by individuals and groups. The way in which it is
interpreted and used will necessarily vary from one situation to the next,
but it nevertheless articulates a universal vision of a world in which
people are able to lead their lives without industrial hazards.
Charter on Industrial Hazards and Human Rights, The Other Media, New Delhi, India and the Pesticides Trust [now PAN UK], London, 1995, £2.50, (12pp).
[This article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 32, June 1996, page 16]