This is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world Ship Breaking and bangladesh workers here, this colossal structure of the parts so that the materials can be reused are result that exposes them to spontaneous explosions. Falling chunks of steel and toxic materials the to say, im not as best as i say. The thing gave me get low. And still a huge number of ships are dismantled in yards like these ones theyre out of use. Most vessels that are scrapped originally belonged to companies in europe, east asia, and southeast asia, and 80 percent of their scrap ends up on these 3 beaches and bangladesh, india and pock hassan, and many cases illegally. A long chain of pretty actors makes this possible. But how does this chain work . Whats in it for the shipping companies . And is there a way out you may not notice it in your day to day life, but ships are everywhere. Know really about 90 percent of our goods are transported over the waves and the volume is only set to increase. It doesnt matter whether ships carry containers, oil, or gas tanks, they pretty much are all made up and filled with Hazardous Materials. Think asbestos lead mercury or pc be switched very simply. Speaking are human created. Chemicals often found in paint and cable insulation. They were faced out in many places because they can be super toxic and take a long time to break down into environments. But old vessels can still contain pcb. So ideally should should be recycled in a way that safely contains and dispose of these dangerous materials. For example, on dry dogs, many ports already have them as part of their infrastructure and could re purpose them for recycling. But thats not how things go and shout to run bangladesh. This is the worlds number one destination for end of life, ship parts. In 2020 to 443 commercial ships and offshore units were sold for scrap. More than a 3rd of the girls tonnage, which is used to measure a ships internal volume, ended up in bangladesh. Indian pockets non foreclosed runners up in all 3 of these destinations, ship brick and yards, mostly use a method called beecher. When you sail a ship full steam onto the sand and then its broken apart into the, on the beach, that means toxic waste and toxic chemicals are being dumped directly into the water into the sand. This is julia black and her a senior Bangladesh ResearchResearch Human rights watch. Theres no way to safely beach a shift and break it apart. That is environmentally sustainable or safe for workers. Effect spread beyond the yard. The toxic waste seeps into the ocean and effects marine life. It also makes its way into farmers fields close to the bangladesh. She facilities, our shops that sell furniture and stoves made from scrap as best as yeah, asbestos exposure to this mineral famously increases the risk of developing some of the most aggressive forms of cancer. The thing is, shipping Companies Know all about those. The conditions in the yards in bangladesh, in india and pakistan is an open secret. Then why do so many of them send their old vessels there . Well, the yards on south asian beaches pay a lot or money for these all these then a safer facility. After all, being safe costs money, fair wages, proper working equipment, disposing of Hazardous Materials and then environmentally friendly way. Ship breaking your simply skip out on these costs. That means they have more money to offer for old vessels that they can take apart and whose material if they can. So its an incredibly lucrative business and a place with a booming market for scraps deal. Half of the still used in bangladesh comes from the yards of chapter brown. And the ship reeking industry contributes about 2000000000. 00 us dollars. So the countrys economy. So its a, the Arts Interest to offer high prices for scraps attract foreign business. And as in Foreign Companies interests to sell their old vessels for more money than they would get them to you. For example. Simply method of profit, nickel im willing are, is works with the n g o Ship Breaking platform, a coalition of organizations fighting abuses and the Ship Breaking industry for another exercise ships. Were looking at the, the forensic get a 3456000000. 00. If you asked me, those are peanuts for a beaker corporations and they do not justify externalizing costs to the communities in the environment. What these richer countries are doing is very much illegal and breaks multiple international laws, like the boss will convention, which is the belief that Hazardous Waste from you or over to the countries cannot be transferred to any other countries. So basically its meant to stop the rich nations from dumping their trash and poor parts of the world. That includes ships that are ready for recycling. Companies can avoid that though by not declaring their ships is waste when they leave the port. The European Union has a regulation that goes even further, and were partnerships with the new flag to be recycled at an e u. A proof facility which yards like these are not of course, but thats where the district comes in, changing the flag of the ship. So the laws dont apply anymore. Theres a whole business around private agencies selling their countries flags. And theyre usually places that are known for not exactly implementing maritime law, panama, liberia, and the Marshall Islands are by far the top 3 flag registries in the world. But there are also other countries registry stutter, especially popular for end of life. Ships are as follows, genevas novato, or even a small island located to off the coast of australia, physical space as much shapes registered under its blanket and not even the lines of flags with a promise of closing eyes in front of the violations of Regional International market. Done regulation, this is a way for small states with few Revenue Streams to make easy money. The lower buyers in with single voyages for demolition and same day turnaround. But usually its not the shipping companies themselves to jump on these deals. They need to cover their tracks after all. So before they declared their old vessels, the scrap they palm them off to middleman the so called cash buyers prepared the ships for an end of life voyage 2 yards where theyre not supposed to go. The cash buyer will often times take responsibility for, you know, changing the flag of the ship and changing its name and changing, and the registered owner. So then in the last month, that sort of changes into an entirely new ship and as sent into bundle dash to dont use asia team obtained a document that shows just that in this letter of credit to import a ship into bangladesh, the vessel arrives in the country under the name of m d hot seat and it plays the flag of tomorrows, but his previous name was quite yet, and it originally had a multi flag. At this point, you might be wondering how can this happen without anyone doing anything to stop it . Simply speaking, the body in charge of setting standards as to you and the International Maritime organization, or hmo and authorities and Member States must enforce them. As weve seen, thats a mass of issue. It is often the case that a certain flock states do not have the capacity or the will, the political will to enforce the standards that have been adopted by the m. O. Michaels order yanna is an independent expert on toxic waste in human rights for the un. She wrote a whole report on the i m. O. Because um lex registration is a formal business. Registering a vessel means money into the treasury. And there is another problem. The International Maritime organization has for many years been seen as a catering to the interests of the shipping industry. A major point of critique is the countries that make it easy to register for a flag has disproportionate influence over imo decisions. The organization, Spokes Person told us everyone has equal influence, since every member state only has one vote. But the issue Transparency International accuse of the aisle of waiting votes differently. It says i am o decisions come into force once enough members for presenting a certain percentage of punish and the see you have agreed. So if you look at this convention, the country signing onto it need to represent 40 percent of the worlds Merchant Shipping by gross tonnage. That means that the vote of a country with more ships under its flag like panama holds more weight than that of a country with fewer ships. The decision and we just saw happens to deal with ship recycling, the Hong Kong Convention, which will come into force in 2025 was drafted. So there would be minimum standards on sustainable Ship Breaking campaigners where it would override the basel convention, which deals with waste. Remember the one from before that and so stop bridge, countries from dumping their trash and coordination, but active as of slammed the Hong Kong Convention for being weaker. For example, it does not outright prohibit end of life ships containing Hazardous Materials from going to a country that cannot handle that waste and environmental friendly way. And critics say, if the Hong Kong Convention were to move things forward from the regulations, we have now it would bad or at least discourage the beaching method. Now it does neither the convention with essentially green washington and green latham ships onto the beach. Okay, and weve talked a lot about the role of International Shipping companies and regulators. But what about the bangladesh and government . When we covered this topic, this word, many of you pointed the finger at local authorities, the psyche of the government of butler. This is the gated to the needs of the developed countries. Were looking for a place where they can dump their toxic fest, sorry. There is one of her son is an environmental attorney from bangladesh. Shift from taking the ship, bringing yards to court since 2003. As a result, theres been several rulings trying to enforce labor and environmental standards. What has happened is, on paper it now looks much cremaster, but things have not improved. In reality, the standards may be better, but according to a song, theres also no legal requirement for National Agencies to monitor if the rules are actually being met. For example, to check if the paperwork listing would Hazardous Materials or in a vessel was forged. The government has and pointed some Safety Agents there in most cases relate tubes of the she breakfast and they do not have the technical expertise. Sylvia nash investment enters based on the funds document. There is no legal obligation on the National Level of Safety Agents to dig deeper into issues. There is no denying that bundle of dish has a problem with poor governance on this issue. But what many experts stress is that this poor governance is also fueled by mass of demand from Foreign Companies that actually have the means to recycle their ships elsewhere. And there is an International Market for this sort of lies in green washing. This is a typical case of toxic colonialism. So when we talk about tackling the problem, we need to put pressure on every single actor, the method to dismantle ship safely already exists. The question is how to eliminate some of the loopholes Companies Like to use to get out of using it. I actually think this is one of the like areas where there is hope in part because theres very distinct and clear solutions. For example, in the you that would mean applying a chip, recycling regulation to the vessels, original owner, and not to the flag state. So you ship owners could not simply change the flag to resolve their way up to the blocks rules. If the Company Sells that ship Human Rights Watch the just still applying the regulation to the previous owner for another 2 years that you will reevaluate its regulation by spring 2024. And the European Commission told us that the issue of re flagging before dismantling is on its radar human rights spots also proposals for the you to implement a return scale. That would mean having all ships trading and the water is paid towards a fund. And owners only get this money back if the ship goes to a saved for cycling facility when its out of use kind of like the deposit people in germany, you need to pay on bottles to incentivize them to return it for recycling. On a more interNational Level, you and special rubber tour, or diana recommends amending to Hong Kong Convention to crack down on beaching and human rights abuses. Finally, to bangladesh. Here the government has to shut down ship region yards on the beaches and it will feel more pressure to do so. If Foreign Companies will be forced to stop sending their vessels there. No developed country shouldnt be happy with standards that base of themselves. We lot improved in the part of the word threatening all of these actors. Profits is vital because when theres a whole industry around skirting regulations, everyone makes money. The companies who want a higher profit, the cash buyers, the flag agencies and the yard owners, the people paying the price for this are the ones working on these dangerous facilities or living near them. Are Reality InternationalCompanies Like to hide by passing the responsibility onto middleman and this is possibly the darkest page in the shipping industry. But these uh, yeah, so unknown to most of the people. But being just this remains visible to people in bangladesh. So what do you think is the best way to stop this Foreign Companies from sending their vessels to the Ship Breaking yards . Let us know in the comments and dont forget to subscribe to our channel. The. The fear of the Munich Security Conference has plenty of security. Im conflict to worry the politicians and experts. So hows the world reach the dangerous Inflection Point . My guess this week has back age of experience with the highest political levels in the us. Shes california congress, woman and former speaker of the house of representatives, nancy pelosi and gaza. The us is one that israel has killed 5 to many palestinians, but is jerusalem listening . How will funding for ukraine clear the kind of block in the us congress and his presence in 5 really too old to run for a 2nd to