The International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal (ICJB) is a coalition of people's organizations, non-profit groups and individuals who have joined forces to campaign for justice for the survivors of the Union Carbide Disaster in Bhopal. Three organisations of survivors from Bhopal play a leading role in the international network. Members of ICJB continue to pressure Union Carbide's current owner The Dow Chemical Company and the US and Indian governments to ensure adequate health care, safe environment and proper rehabilitation for the survivors of the disaster and their children. Exemplary punishment of the Corporation and its guilty officials is one of the key demands of ICJB.

The ICJB believes in:

1. The Precautionary Principle

2. The 'Polluter Pays Principle' - the idea that those responsible for
polluting the environment and endangering our health should also be held responsible for cleaning up that pollution and preserving our health.

3. The 'Right to Know' - people should have easy access to information about potential or current threats to the quality of the environment and their lives.

4. International Liability - CEOs and Corporations should not be allowed to abscond from legal proceedings levied against them in other nations.

5. Environmental Justice - poor, indigenous and people of colour communities should not be targeted with polluting facilities, dangerous technologies and other threats to their health and community.

International members include Association for India's Development, USA, Bhopal Information Network, Japan, Corpwatch, USA, Greenpeace International and Pesticide Action Network USA and UK. A full list appears below.

For more information about our work, or if you would like your organisation to be affiliated with the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal, please email us.

Membership does not entail any specific responsibilities: any contribution that your organization makes to the campaign for justice in Bhopal is completely voluntary. The ICJB can help you determine a level of involvement best suited to your organisation.

The www.bhopal.net website

Bhopal.Net is a project of the UK Campaign for Justice in Bhopal and exists actively to champion, promote and facilitate the aims of the ICJB (see below).

The website has a policy of editorial independence, therefore materials published here cannot be assumed to be endorsed, or even approved of, by other members of the ICJB. We are currently looking for people to submit news, articles, features and gossip, preferably Bhopal-related, and are particularly keen to have Hindi and Urdu contributions from individuals and media in Bhopal.

If you have a contribution or suggestion for the website please use this email address.

Bhopal.Net is regularly monitored by the BBC and other key news organisations around the world and provides them (and you) with a source of news and information that is unusually close to the ground.

Media contacts

India
ICJB secretariat
+91 (0) 755 273 0914

USA & the Americas
Gary Cohen
+1 617-524-6018

Africa
Bobby Peek

Japan
Tani Yochi

UK & Europe
Tim Edwards
+44 (0)1273 694913

Bhopal.net
UK Campaign for Justice in Bhopal

ICJB aims

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

ICJB Members

The International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal is made up of the following organizations or in some cases key portions of their membership.

Survivor groups – Central Decision-making Authority:

Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationary Karmachari Sangh, Bhopal, India

Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Sangharsh Morcha, Bhopal, India

Bhopal Group for Information and Action, Bhopal, India

Bhopal Ki Aawaaz, Bhopal, India (Bhopal Orphans)

Supporting Campaign Members

Amnesty International

Association for India's Development [AID], USA & India

ASHA for Education – Select Chapters, USA

Calhoun Country Resource Watch, Texas, USA

Campus Greens, USA

Center for Health and Environment, USA

Corpwatch, India

Ecology Center of Michigan, USA

Environmental Health Fund, USA

Friends of the Earth, UK

Greenpeace International

Groundwork, South Africa

National Campaign for Justice in Bhopal, India

Pesticide Action Network, North America

Pesticide Action Network, UK

Sierra Student Coalition, Select Chapters, USA

Students for Bhopal, USA

The Other Media, India

UK Campaign for Justice in Bhopal

Young Volunteers for the Environment, Togo

How to join the ICJB

If your organisation supports ICJB’s demands and believes in the following principles (and has no association with the Dow Chemical Company or its subsidiaries), you can become a member of the Coalition:

1. The ‘Polluter Pays’ Principle—the idea that those responsible for polluting the environment and endangering our health should also be held responsible for cleaning up that pollution and preserving our health.

2. The “Right to Know”—people should have easy access to information about potential or current threats to the quality of the environment and their lives.

3. International Liability—CEOs and Corporations should not be allowed to abscond from legal proceedings levied against them in other nations.

4. Environmental Justice—poor, indigenous and people of color communities should not be targeted with polluting facilities, dangerous technologies and other threats to their health and community.

Membership does not entail any specific responsibilities: any contribution that your organization makes to the campaign for justice in Bhopal is completely voluntary. The ICJB can help you determine a level of involvement that’s suitable for your organization.