Bhopal Gas Explosion Investigations

Claudia Webbe Excerpts

Tuesday 15th November 2022 Westminster Hall

[Claudia Webbe (Leicester East) (Ind)]

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Stockport (Navendu Mishra) for securing this important debate. Despite the Bhopal gas explosion occurring almost 40 years ago at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, hundreds of thousands of Bhopalis are still living in its long shadow, unable to move on with their lives with dignity and justice. In addition to the 3,000 people who died almost immediately, there have been a further 20,000 deaths and 120,000 cases of people suffering from health problems, including severe deformities and blindness as a result of the toxic seepage into the surrounding area from the plant.

Since the disaster, survivors have been plagued with an epidemic of cancers, menstrual disorders—including the early onset of the menopause—and what one doctor described as “monstrous births”. Thousands of Bhopalis cannot work, physically move or study, and are living a miserable existence without any surviving family members. The apparent root cause of the accident was that the plant had not been properly maintained following the cessation of pesticide production, with tonnes of toxic chemicals remaining on site and left completely unmaintained and unchecked. In reality the root cause was greed.

It was not until 1989 that Union Carbide, in a partial settlement with the Indian Government, agreed to pay out the equivalent of £400 million in compensation. The victims were not consulted in the settlement discussions, and many felt cheated by their compensation of between £250 and £450 per person. That equates to five years’ worth of medical expenses. Today, those who were awarded compensation are hardly better off, because with such paltry sums, over the long term, that amounts to just 5p a day. The cost of a cup of tea in India for a lifetime of unimaginable suffering, all while Union Carbide, now Dow Chemicals, effectively sought to whitewash their crimes by sponsoring, as we have heard, the London 2012 Olympics. The company operates in nearly every country in the world, including the UK, with a market capitalisation of nearly £34 billion, but it failed to atone for its corporate crimes and has yet to pay the Bhopali people so that they can obtain justice and live with dignity.

The final figure agreed five years after the disaster was only 15% of the original settlement that the Government of India had requested. The amount was far below international compensation standards, as well as those set by the Indian Railways for accidents, which was the standard Union Carbide had said that it would use. In 1991, the local government in Bhopal charged the American, Warren Anderson, Union Carbide’s chief executive at the time of the disaster, with manslaughter, yet neither the US nor the Indian Government of the day were interested in his extradition to face trial after he fled India.

The Union Carbide Corporation was charged with culpable homicide, a criminal charge with no upper penalty limit. The charges have never been resolved as Union Carbide—now Dow Chemicals, of course—has refused to appear before an Indian court. Dow Chemicals says that the legal case was resolved in 1989 when Union Carbide settled with the Indian Government for the equivalent of £400 million and that all responsibility for the factory rests with the local state government, which now owns the site. To this day, despite requests to appear in court from the Indian Government and the compensation that may well be regarded by some as an admission of guilt, the company and its chief executives have not faced criminal charges and Dow’s share price keeps on rising.

In 2010, eight Indian employees were found guilty of neglecting to adequately maintain the factory once it was not profitable and it was that neglect that led to the explosion, as we know. They were ordered to pay just less than £1,500 each, which campaign groups have said is an insult and simply pocket change for the executives. On that day, Hamida Bi stood weeping. She said:

“Nobody knows how we suffered experiencing death so closely everyday…the rich and influential have wronged us. We lost our lives and they can’t spend a day in jail?”

Corporate America is running away from its responsibility to protect profits and its vast fortunes overseas. That is exactly what former Carbide director, Joseph Geoghan, implied when he spoke about Warren Anderson in hiding:

“Extradition in a case like this would place in jeopardy any owner or senior executive of an American corporation with significant interests in foreign enterprises anywhere in the world…The chilling effect on American investment abroad cannot be overstated.”

We cannot allow corporate profits or US interventionism to get in the way of the fresh investigations and reparations that the Bhopali people are calling for. Under international law, they have a right to redress and rehabilitation for harm done by companies that operate across borders. We must therefore assert and uphold the rule of law. We cannot allow class wars, or discrimination against workers or the working class in Bhopal, India, to get in the way of calls for justice. If this corporate manslaughter had taken place in Surrey or upstate New York, compensation would have been significant and justice would have been seen to be done. We cannot value the lives of people overseas in Bhopal less than lives here in the UK.

The disparity in treatment between industrial accidents here in the west and over there in the global south must not be allowed to stand. Because of its long-standing history with India and, of course, its long-standing history with the US, behind whose borders Dow is currently hiding, the UK is in a unique position to explore remedies for Bhopal survivors. As we know, the UK is deep in negotiation with India on an important trade deal, so both countries have an opportunity to explore whether the UK is in a position to assist India. In January, the Indian Government will argue for additional compensation from Dow and Union Carbide before India’s Supreme Court, to secure the adequate, timely remedies so cruelly denied to Bhopal survivors for so long.

As well as the actions that have already been proposed, an independent fact-finding mission to Bhopal is required if the UK Parliament’s approach is to be most effective. Such a mission would re-examine the realities on the ground, unpick the legal and political obstacles and recommend ways forward. It would be the first time a member of the international community had stepped up to intervene in what has so far been treated as an adversarial dispute. It is not an adversarial dispute between two parties; it is a situation that has only prolonged the suffering of survivors. The tragedy of Bhopal is one of the gravest miscarriages of justice of our time. Given our two countries’ unique history, the UK must move to morally correct that injustice.