18
February 2009 - Nigeria — Following a three-year
undercover investigation, we’ve shown once
again that electronic waste - like your
old TV set - still isn't being responsibly
recycled like it's supposed to be. Instead,
e-waste is being disguised as second-hand
goods and shipped off to Nigeria, where
it is sold, scrapped or illegally dumped.
The undercover operation,
carried out with the help of Sky Television,
is further evidence of the growing trade
in hazardous waste from Europe to the developing
world due to electronic companies’ failure
to take responsibility for recycling their
products.
Acting on a tip-off,
we launched our operation to see just where
some electronic waste was ending up. We
took an unfixable TV, fitted it with a tracking
device and brought it to the UK’s Hampshire
County Council for recycling. Instead of
being safely dismantled in the UK or Europe,
like it should have been, the Council’s
‘recycling’ company, BJ Electronics, passed
it on as 'second-hand goods' and it was
shipped off to Nigeria to be sold or scrapped
and dumped.
Following the e-waste
trail - a Greenpeace investigation
It’s illegal to export broken electronic
goods under EU legislation - at no point
before it was crammed into a container with
similar TVs and shipped off was the TV turned
on or tested to see if it was in working
condition. We followed the complete e-waste
trafficking route by hiding a tracking device
inside the TV that provided location updates
via GPS.
Read more about how exactly we tracked the
TV all the way to Nigeria.
Nigeria, like Ghana,
Pakistan, India and China, is just one of
many destinations that Europe, the United
States, Japan, South Korea and other developed
countries are using as toxic e-waste dumping
grounds. For years, we’ve been exposing
the mountains of e-waste that show up on
the doorstep of developing countries at
the expense of people and the environment.
The poorest people, in many cases children,
are put to work breaking apart TVs, mobile
phones, game consoles and other electronic
items that arrive in their tonnes. With
no safety measures, they are exposed to
highly toxic chemicals, including mercury,
which damages the brain; lead, which can
damage reproductive systems; and cadmium,
which causes kidney damage.
Where is your e-waste
going?
For the first time we were able to track
the e-waste from door to door, exposing
the loopholes in recycling programmes that
allow illicit profits to be made by the
developed world's traders by dumping their
obsolete and hazardous electronics abroad
instead of properly recycling them. Thousands
of old electronic goods and components leave
the EU for Africa every day, despite regulations
prohibiting the trade in e-waste. Some will
be repaired and reused, but many are beyond
repair, meaning that they will eventually
be dumped in places where no facilities
exist for safe recycling.
Companies can stop this
illegal toxic trade now by making sure their
goods are free from hazardous components.
We need them to take full responsibility
for the safe recycling of their products
and put an end to the growing e-waste dumps
that poison people and the environment across
the developing world. We need companies
to introduce voluntary take-back schemes
and remove hazardous substances from their
products so they can be recycled safely
and easily.
Despite the growing
evidence of the harm caused by toxic e-waste,
many companies are still failing to prioritise
the removal of toxic chemicals and delaying
taking full responsibility for their products.
Check out the coverage
of the undercover investigation at The Independent.
+ More
Justice for whales,
justice for Greenpeace
18 February 2009 - Japan
— An ancient Japanese legend says that anyone
who folds 1000 paper cranes will have their
heart's desire come true. On 16 February,
1000 paper whales were delivered to the
Japanese embassy in Stockholm with a message
"Free Junichi and Toru".
From deliveries of origami
whales in Sweden, to giant wooden handcuffs
in Hong Kong and caged prisoners in Turkey,
activists from around the world have been
visiting Japanese embassies and consulates
this week to call for justice as the Tokyo
Two faced their first formal court hearing.
Support has come in
from all over the planet. Activists have
been busy in Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark,
Turkey, Hong Kong, the US, Israel, Greece,
Russia, New Zealand, the Netherland, Mexico
and India!
The two activists, Junichi
Sato and Toru Suzuki, attended a closed
"pre-trial" court session in the
Japanese city of Aomori on February 13th,
where they face a politically-driven prosecution
and up to ten years in prison for alleged
theft and trespass. The two were arrested
in June 2008, after they exposed a major
embezzlement scandal at the heart of the
Japanese government-sponsored whale hunt.
They exposed abuse of taxpayer subsidies
in the hope of prompting an independent
investigation into the corrupt whale industry.
Overreaction
The Tokyo Two gathered firm evidence that
boxes of whale meat were being secretly
shipped to the homes of whaling fleet crew
and sold for personal gain. Junichi took
a box of whale meat that had been disguised
as personal luggage from a depot and handed
it over it to the Tokyo Prosecutors' Office
in May 2008 while filing a report of embezzlement.
But the investigation was dropped on June
20th – the same day that both activists
were arrested and then held for 26 days
before being charged. They were interrogated
for up to 12 hours day while handcuffed
and strapped to chairs. Toru went on a hunger
strike for a week and refused to speak for
13 days to highlight his political imprisonment.
Junichi (left), Toru
(right), and their lead counsel, Yuichi
Kaido (centre) face reporters at a press
briefing following their first pre-trial
hearing at Aomori District Court.
Since Junichi and Toru
were released they have not been allowed
to talk to each other or other Greenpeace
activists. They are forbidden to be away
from their homes for extended periods and
they cannot leave the country. They can
only speak with journalists separately,
in their lawyers' office. Both have been
followed by undercover police and received
anonymous threats after their addresses
were revealed by the media.
Strong defence
The Tokyo Two had no intent of illegal acquisition
for personal gain, which is one of the elements
that defines the crime of "theft"
under Japanese law. And their defence counsel
is also using international law to argue
that Junichi and Toru were exercising their
right to freedom of expression - guaranteed
in the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (ICCPR). If public watchdogs
- such as media and non-governmental organisations
- are to function effectively, freedom of
expression is essential. Any conviction
of a criminal offence in this instance would
breach Japan's obligations under the ICCPR.
Junichi and Toru face
a further pre-trial hearing on 23 March,
while the start date of the public trial
is yet to be decided. But they are not facing
this alone. Over 250,000 people are standing
beside them in solidarity as 'co-defendants'
who have asked Japan to arrest them too
if defending whales is a crime.
Tell the Japanese government
that if they are going to start arresting
people for defending whales, they are going
to need a lot of handcuffs
Breaking the ice
In order to raise awareness
in Japan about this injustice and to promote
our other campaigns we recently opened a
communications centre in the northern fishing
district of Aomori were the Tokyo Two trial
is being held. And during the Sapporo Snow
Festival in Hokkaido we added some inspiration
with an ice sculpture celebrating the beauty
and importance of our oceans. Carved by
artist Yasuhiro Sone, the sculpture included
a humpback whale, a dolphin and a tuna -
among other sea creatures - swimming around
a globe. The Festival is a major event in
Japan with up to two million visitors.
Our office in Japan
is under attack and our activists are being
prosecuted as a warning to citizens who
bring whaling into question. But we are
not giving up. The only way we can stop
whales being harpooned in the Southern Ocean
Whale Sanctuary is to bring down the whaling
industry in Japan. We have it on its knees
and with enough support we can finish it
- forever.
