Papers by Ishtiaque Ahmed
The Santa Clara Journal of International Law, 2020
Ship-breaking on beaches is widely known to cause pollution and is among the most dangerous occup... more Ship-breaking on beaches is widely known to cause pollution and is among the most dangerous occupations in the world. After three decades of prevailing mobocracy, particularly in the three chief ship recycling nations of Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan, in 2009, the International Maritime Organization finally adopted the Hong Kong Convention, as a result of mounting pressure from international communities including various environmental groups, NGOs, mass media, and human right activists. However, this much awaited convention protecting the marine environment has not been enforced yet due to the lack of ratification by key ship recycling states caused by competing conflicts of interest and significant disagreements among the dominant stakeholders of this industry. Leading environmental and labor activists claim that the convention is extremely pro-business in character and has heavily favored the industry and entities with active shipping interest at the expense of labor rights and the coastal environment. On the other hand, shipping and ship-breaking industries maintain that early ratification of this convention is the only effective solution to the current problems. Through a doctrinal analysis, this article addresses the challenging question of this convention's efficacy in ensuring sustainable, safe and environmentally sound recycling of ships by breaking down its key terms and provisions. The article ends with policy recommendations for the International Maritime Organization, which adopted this convention in 2009 amidst significant protest and criticism of both labor and environmental activists.
Brill , 2023
India has faced fierce competition with Bangladesh in the ship recycling business since South Asi... more India has faced fierce competition with Bangladesh in the ship recycling business since South Asia became the epicenter of global shipbreaking in the 1980s. The current legislative stand of India in ship recycling is undeniably an anticipated outcome of India’s recent decision to ratify the
Hong Kong Convention, which is believed to be one of the most pro business as well as weak and fragile international environmental regimes.417 This position of India is contrary to its existing obligations under the Basel Convention which, as noted above, reflects the true spirit of the Indian Constitution418 and is considered by many to be one of the strongest and eco-friendly international environmental regimes.419 With these notes of clear conflict of obligations of the State under international law, breaches of fundamental provisions of the State’s constitution, and overtly disaffirming the Supreme Court’s directives, how the new legislative regime will embrace sustainable ship recycling in India remains for the time being an unfulfilled expectation.
The Origin and Evolution of the Shipbreaking Regime in India: A Critical Perspective
Ocean Yearbook Online
Fordham Environmental Law Review, 2020
Ship-breaking is one of the most dangerous occupations in the world and widely known as a polluti... more Ship-breaking is one of the most dangerous occupations in the world and widely known as a pollution-heavy industry. This industry is currently concentrated primarily in three South Asian developing countries, namely Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. Ensuring the safe and environmentally sound recycling of ships remains a global concern. There are many international regulations which apply to the activities of ship-breaking, but none of them address the issue in a comprehensive manner. The most relevant international instrument governing ship recycling, the 2009 Hong Kong Convention remains unenforceable due to non-ratification by the chief ship recycling states. The only enforceable international instrument closely relevant to ship recycling activity is the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Waste and their Disposal adopted in 1989. However due to its exceedingly pro-environmental character, its applicability over End of Life ships remains uncertain. As a stopgap measure, this article will attempt to explore other currently enforceable international laws that can potentially be utilized to govern the industry in the face of uncertainty with these two mainstream legal instruments. This article postulates that a prompt solution to this controversial global activity is unlikely to occur anytime soon.
Brill Nijhoff , 2022
The shipping industry is responsible for the carriage of about 90 percent of world trade.1 The im... more The shipping industry is responsible for the carriage of about 90 percent of world trade.1 The importance of this industry to the global economy lies in its capacity to move goods and raw materials worldwide in the most cost-effective manner possible.2 The lifespan of a commercial ship is generally 25 to 30 years.3 After continuous operation at sea for such a duration a ship becomes unseaworthy and dangerous for navigation and safety of life at sea.4 The ship’s operating costs outweighs its income.5 The ship becomes obsolete, leading
The Basel Convention has tempted developed nations into the practice of exporting hazardous waste... more The Basel Convention has tempted developed nations into the practice of exporting hazardous waste into undeveloped nations’ territories simply for money in the name of recycling. Being extremely business unfriendly, particularly for the recycling industry, this convention has not been welcomed by many developing nations, leading to serious policy and legal uncertainty in those jurisdictions. However, in the absence of any dedicated, enforceable international legal instrument, the Basel Convention currently remains the foundation of ship-recycling jurisprudence in the domestic courts of all dominant, ship-recycling states and the rest of the world, and the basis for curbing the movement of end-of-life ships proceeding to undeveloped states for recycling. Considerable debate exists amongst major stakeholders about the Basel Convention’s application to end-of-life ships. Stakeholders associated with global shipping and the ship-recycling industry, including the governments of ship-owni...
The Basel Convention has tempted developed nations into the practice of exporting hazardous waste... more The Basel Convention has tempted developed nations into the practice of exporting hazardous waste into undeveloped nations’ territories simply for money in the name of recycling. Being extremely business unfriendly, particularly for the recycling industry, this convention has not been welcomed by many developing nations, leading to serious policy and legal uncertainty in those jurisdictions. However, in the absence of any dedicated, enforceable international legal instrument, the Basel Convention currently remains the foundation of ship-recycling jurisprudence in the domestic courts of all dominant, ship-recycling states and the rest of the world, and the basis for curbing the movement of end-of-life ships proceeding to undeveloped states for recycling. Considerable debate exists amongst major stakeholders about the Basel Convention’s application to end-of-life ships. Stakeholders associated with global shipping and the ship-recycling industry, including the governments of ship-owni...
Washington International Law Journal , 2020
Safe & Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships
Santa Clara Journal of International law , 2020
Safe & Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships
Minnesota Journal of International Law , 2020
Safe & Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships
Fordham Environmental Law Review , 2020
Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships
Legal Issues , 2020
Safe & Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships
Ishtiaque Ahmed, 2020
Environmental protection and economic development are
closely intertwined. The global treaty on s... more Environmental protection and economic development are
closely intertwined. The global treaty on ship breaking has been a
cause of intense debate over the rights of economic development,
environmental protection and the allocation of responsibility for
environmental harm arising from shipbreaking between ship
owning and ship recycling nations. These countries traditionally
happen to be the developed and the developing countries
respectively. In this global treaty, the concerns of the key ship
recycling nations, namely their economic priority and desperate
need for alleviation of poverty, have been overlooked. This has
resulted in the progression of negative externality in the domestic
jurisdictions of all key ship recycling nations. If the race to the
bottom and divergence created by this negative externality between
private and social costs is not corrected by legal measures, and
polluters are allowed to continue to operate until reaching the
maximum point of their private benefit, this may bring no
aggregate benefit to society, but will result in an obvious
environmental and social disaster leading to a threat to the
sustainability of the industry. In this capitalist society, the law as it exists would hardly
influence the tug of war between groups representing the powerful
industry on one hand and inanimate objects such as ecology and
the toiling masses on the other. The HKC was adopted back in
2009 as a response to the global call after three decades of
mobocracy and lawlessness in the shipbreaking industry. If the
demand of greater equity in this global pact is not met as suggested
in this article, sustainability of this global industry in the near term
may remain far from the reality.
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Papers by Ishtiaque Ahmed
Hong Kong Convention, which is believed to be one of the most pro business as well as weak and fragile international environmental regimes.417 This position of India is contrary to its existing obligations under the Basel Convention which, as noted above, reflects the true spirit of the Indian Constitution418 and is considered by many to be one of the strongest and eco-friendly international environmental regimes.419 With these notes of clear conflict of obligations of the State under international law, breaches of fundamental provisions of the State’s constitution, and overtly disaffirming the Supreme Court’s directives, how the new legislative regime will embrace sustainable ship recycling in India remains for the time being an unfulfilled expectation.
closely intertwined. The global treaty on ship breaking has been a
cause of intense debate over the rights of economic development,
environmental protection and the allocation of responsibility for
environmental harm arising from shipbreaking between ship
owning and ship recycling nations. These countries traditionally
happen to be the developed and the developing countries
respectively. In this global treaty, the concerns of the key ship
recycling nations, namely their economic priority and desperate
need for alleviation of poverty, have been overlooked. This has
resulted in the progression of negative externality in the domestic
jurisdictions of all key ship recycling nations. If the race to the
bottom and divergence created by this negative externality between
private and social costs is not corrected by legal measures, and
polluters are allowed to continue to operate until reaching the
maximum point of their private benefit, this may bring no
aggregate benefit to society, but will result in an obvious
environmental and social disaster leading to a threat to the
sustainability of the industry. In this capitalist society, the law as it exists would hardly
influence the tug of war between groups representing the powerful
industry on one hand and inanimate objects such as ecology and
the toiling masses on the other. The HKC was adopted back in
2009 as a response to the global call after three decades of
mobocracy and lawlessness in the shipbreaking industry. If the
demand of greater equity in this global pact is not met as suggested
in this article, sustainability of this global industry in the near term
may remain far from the reality.