The demands of the Bhopal survivors to the Indian government and the international community

Six demands have been identified by the survivors' organisations as 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