The Seattle City Council http://www.thesouthasian.org/archives/2005/images/bhopal_proclamation.pdf > proclaimed today that December 3, 2005 will be observed as Bhopal Remembrance Day. The date marks the 21 st anniversary of the world's worst industrial disaster: a chemical leak at a Union Carbide facility in Bhopal , India.

Seattle becomes the second city to declare support for the victims, following a resolution passed by the San Francisco City Council in April of last year.

The City proclamation observed that the inaction of Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) and Dow Chemical is counter to Seattle's aims for environmental sustainability. Proclamation sponsor, Council member Nick Licata stated, "All of us must be accountable for our actions. If Dow eludes accountability for its liabilities in Bhopal , why should American citizens expect any corporation to accept responsibility for harm they may cause in the United States ?"

The Seattle Coalition for Justice in Bhopal , who initiated this action, is planning an event on December 3rd to commemorate the Remembrance Day. The Bhopal event will take place from 4 to 4:45 p.m.at St. James Cathedral, 804 Terry Ave. The event will be a part of the Women Confronting Globalization organized by Amnesty Internationals Campaign for Stop Violence Against Women, among others. For details, please visit: www.aiwashington.org .

The proclamation marks an important step in the rising demand for justice over the Bhopal issue, whose victims feel betrayed by the actions of Union Carbide and Dow Chemical.

" Bhopal can happen in our backyard. As global citizens it is our responsibility to address these issues whenever possible and our local coalition felt we could do our part to call attention to this human rights abuse," said Sandhya Banda, member of the Seattle Coalition for Justice in Bhopal.

On December 3rd, 1984 , thousands of people in Bhopal, India , were gassed to death after a catastrophic chemical leak at a Union Carbide pesticide plant. More than 150,000 people were left severely disabled—of whom 20,000 have since died of their injuries¬—in a disaster now widely acknowledged as the world's worst-ever industrial disaster. None of the six safety systems at the plant were functional, and Union Carbide's own documents prove the company cut corners on safety and maintenance in order to save money. Today, twenty-one years after the Bhopal disaster, those who survived the gas remain sick, and the chemicals that Union Carbide left behind in Bhopal have poisoned the water supply and contributed to an epidemic of cancers, birth defects, and other afflictions. With its purchase of Union Carbide in 2001, Dow Chemical assumed Carbide's environmental and criminal liabilities.

For more information see: www.amnestyusa.org/business/bhopal.pdf - Amnesty International report on the disaster and www.bhopal.net
Contact: Raghav Kaushik, Seattle Coalition for Justice in Bhopal , 425-223-7571 abd
Valerie Costa, Amnesty International/ Seattle Coalition for Justice in Bhopal , 206-979-6927

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