<\/code><\/p>\nTurkey has finally banned the toxic aircraft carrier S\u00c3O PAULO from entering its national waters for scrapping. For weeks, local environmental and labor rights groups, supported by international NGOs, have been protesting the voyage of the vessel from Brazil to Alia\u011fa, demanding compliance with the Basel and Barcelona Conventions.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom a marvelous public march with participation of thousands of people in Alia\u011fa to theatrical demonstrations in the center of \u0130zmir and public statements in front of official buildings, all people came together around the one single demand: to stop this toxic ship,\u201d says Gokhan Ersoy, Project Development Officer at Greenpeace Mediterranean.<\/p>\n
\u201cDigital and conventional signature petitions reached more than 150.000 people within a month! The will and never-ending commitment of people forced policy makers to reconsider the mistake they had made.\u201d<\/p>\n
The decision by Murat Kurum, Turkish Minister of Environment, City and Climate Change, comes after a Brazilian Federal District Court injunction to stop the departure of the ship was not enforced, and the Brazilian government and the buyer of the vessel failed to produce and submit a second Inventory of Hazardous Material (IHM) in order to properly identify the amounts of toxics onboard the ship.<\/p>\n
Indeed, a second audit was deemed necessary by Turkey after environmental and human rights organizations challenged the validity of the first one.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe extraordinary resistance against the export of this ship comes at a moment of intensive environmental damage to this part of the world because of the \u2018open door\u2019 waste policy of the Turkish government,\u201d says Asli Odman of Istanbul Health and Safety Labour Watch.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo environmental or social dumping should be allowed to be able to put the environmental standards on a firm ground. Thus, our struggle is not only a national one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following the cancellation of Turkey\u2019s consent to the transboundary movement, IBAMA (Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources) has issued a letter to Oceans Prime Offshore Agenciamento Maritimo Ltda, the exporting company working with the buyer SOK, to arrange the immediate return of the S\u00c3O PAULO to Brazil.<\/p>\n
However, to date, the company in control of the vessel has not yet provided information regarding the route change.<\/p>\n
\u201cTogether with the Basel Action Network (BAN), BAN Asbestos France, Henri P\u00e9zerat Association (Work, Health, Environment), International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS), \u0130stanbul Isig Meclisi, Greenpeace Mediterranean and Brazilian ABREA (Associa\u00e7\u00e3o Brasileira dos Expostos ao Amianto), the NGO Shipbreaking Platform is now calling for the governments of Morocco, Spain, and the UK to immediately halt the vessel should it attempt to cross the Strait of Gibraltar,\u201d says Nicola Mulinaris of the NGO Shipbreaking Platform.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no doubt that we are witnessing a clear case of illegal traffic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Source: https:\/\/maritimefairtrade.org\/turkey-bans-entry-of-toxic-aircraft-carrier-sao-paulo-for-scrapping\/<\/p>\n
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