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Permanent Peoples' Tribunal
Charter
CONTENTS
Preamble
Part I: Right of General Application
Part II: Community Rights
Part III: Rights of
Workers
Part IV: Common Rights to Relief
Part V: Implementation
Introduction to
the Charter on Industrial Hazards and Human Rights
The world has now acquired ample experience of
industrial and environmental hazards. Lessons must be
learned from these experiences so that those who have
died and suffered will not have done so entirely in vain.
Judgement of the Permanent Peoples' Tribunal on Human
Rights and Industrial Hazards, Bhopal, India, October
1992.
The Charter on Industrial Hazards and Human Rights was
drafted in the spirit of learning from the past so that a
more humane future may be possible. It is not an official
document, but a people's statement. Unlike most human
rights documents, its content was not determined by
diplomatic compromise. Rather, its substance, and hence
its authority, derive directly from the collective
experience of those who have been forced to live with the
consequences of industrial hazards. Nearly five years in
the drafting, the Charter is based on a series of public
hearings held on the topic of industrial hazards and
human rights. The hearings were held in New Haven (USA,
1991), Bangkok (Thailand, 1991), Bhopal (India, 1992),
and London (UK, 1994) under the auspices of the Permanent
Peoples' Tribunal (PPT).
Established in 1979 by the Lelio Basso International
Foundation for the Rights and Liberation of Peoples, the
PPT is the immediate successor to the Bertrand Russell
Tribunals on Vietnam and Latin America. In the tradition
of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, the
PPT is an international public opinion tribunal which
identifies and publicises the systematic violation of
fundamental rights, particularly in those cases where
national and international law fail to protect people's
rights.
The PPT is based in Rome, but its 75 judges come from
all over the globe and include eminent persons whose
reputations must be above reproach in art, culture,
science, and politics, including a number of Nobel Prize
winners. Individual hearings are initiated by aggrieved
groups, and are normally heard by a bench of three to
eleven sitting tribunal judges. Accused parties are
invited to present their case at the hearings, and if
they do not attend, the PPT appoints legal counsel to
represent their case in a rigorous manner. The PPT
applies principles of international law, and is bound by
the Algiers Declaration of the Rights of Peoples as well
as its own Statute of Operations. As part of its mandate,
the PPT supports the development of new standards and
legal norms. With the Charter the PPT aims to contribute
new principles of justice to the existing body of human
rights law.
The Charter will be placed before the United Nations
and other international bodies for official
consideration. But it is also based on the principle that
official action is not enough: it calls upon individuals,
community groups, trade unions, and public interest
organisations to assert its rights as part of a common
duty to take action against industrial hazards. People
from many different countries presented evidence to the
four hearings on which the Charter was based. The PPT
heard testimony from survivors of industrial hazards,
from concerned community groups, and from workers.
Doctors, lawyers, scientists, engineers, and other
experts also provided information on the organisation and
effects of industrial hazards.
Despite their diverse backgrounds and experiences, the
people who testified told a common story. Industrial
hazards are proliferating on a global scale, and they
pose a serious threat to human life and health. Moreover,
the existing economic, legal, and medical systems are not
responding adequately to this feature of globalisation.
Victims' groups voiced a common demand for a system which
protects them from death, injury, and persistent
insecurity.
Expert testimony highlighted instances of best
practice, but also described the main features of an
international order in which hazards are promoted,
traded, and protected without effective controls. At the
first hearing on Industrial Hazards and Human Rights (New
Haven, 1991) the PPT considered three draft charters: on
the rights of Workers, Communities, and Victims. The
drafts were based on existing principles of human rights
law, interpreted in the light of industrial hazards.
These drafts were circulated widely (including to ACTA
which forwarded a detailed submission) and revised three
times before they were considered at the fourth hearing
(London, 1994) by both the Tribunal and the parallel
non-governmental organisation meeting. At this time the
three charters were consolidated into one document, which
was then circulated to a large number of experts and
non-governmental organisations from all parts of the
world.
The Charter was revised and refined for thirteen
months before the final version was approved by the
Permanent Peoples' Tribunal in early 1996. Although the
Charter is drafted in a legalistic language, its content
directly reflects the views of those with immediate
experience of industrial hazards in a wide variety of
settings. The Charter on Industrial Hazards and Human
Rights does not bestow rights from above as a gift from
the state. It is a set of demands from below, to be
seized by individuals and groups acting in the context of
particular struggles. The way in which it is interpreted
and used will necessarily vary from one situation to the
next, but it nevertheless articulates a universal vision
of a world in which people are able to lead their lives
without industrial hazards.
Permanent Peoples' Tribunal on Industrial Hazards and
Human Rights
CHARTER ON INDUSTRIAL HAZARDS AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Permanent Peoples' Tribunal (PPT),
Via della Dogana Vecchia 5, 00186 Rome, Italy
Tel. + 396 654 1468 / Fax + 396 687 7774
PPT on Industrial Hazards and Human Rights,
Hosted by The Pesticides Trust
Eurolink Centre, 49 Effra Road, London SW2 1BZ
Tel. + 447 1274 8895 / Fax + 447 1274 9084.
Email:pesttrust@gn.apc.org
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Preamble
The Permanent Peoples' Tribunal on Industrial Hazards
and Human Rights,
Having convened four Sessions in New Haven, Bangkok,
Bhopal and London since 1991 to receive testimony and
deliberate on issues relating to the right to life,
occupational health and safety, environment protection,
risk management and damage reduction in the wider global
context of hazardous production;
Having drafted over a period of four years a charter
of rights designed to reflect the views and concerns of
persons injured and distressed by industrial hazards, and
having issued on the second day of December 1994 a Draft
Charter for comment and discussion among individuals and
non-governmental organisations, including trade unions;
Following the Universal Declaration of the Rights of
Peoples, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against Women, the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Vienna
Declaration and Programme of Action of the World
Conference of Human Rights and other relevant
international human rights instruments;
Guided by the Rio Declaration on Environment and
Development, Agenda 21, the Draft Declaration of
Principles on Human Rights and the Environment, the Draft
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and other
relevant instruments for prevention of industrial and
environmental hazards;
Guided further by International Labour Organisation
conventions and recommendations, including the Convention
on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to
Organise, the Convention on the Right to Organise and
Collective Bargaining and the Convention Concerning the
Prevention of Major Industrial Accidents;
Gravely concerned by the widespread diffusion of
hazardous products and processes resulting in industrial
practices which cause human, social and environmental
destruction, threatening in particular the habitat, life,
economy, society and culture of indigenous peoples;
Deeply concerned by the frequency of small-scale but
harmful hazardous events, as well as the magnitude and
nature of major industrial accidents, including the
incidents in Seveso, Chernobyl, Bhopal, Basel and
elsewhere;
Concerned by the ineffectual national and
international system of hazard prevention, post-disaster
relief, medical and legal assistance and legal
accountability which in their current forms have failed
both to adequately prevent occupational and environmental
hazards and to bring to account those responsible for
world-wide deaths and injuries;
Noting that urgent action is needed to prevent future
degradation to human life, animal life and the
environment and to adequately remedy the harms caused by
industrial hazards;
Recognising that the personal experience and repeated
demands of community members and workers affected by
hazards provide the most sound basis for the enunciation
of rights;
Cognizant of the inherent limitations of national and
international law, as well as the vital role of community
organisations and people's movements in preventing and
ameliorating industrial hazards;
Convinced that new national and international systems
of prevention, relief and legal accountability must be
formulated and established;
DECLARES THE FOLLOWING:
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PART I: RIGHTS OF
GENERAL APPLICATION
Article 1: Non-discrimination
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Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms
set forth in this Charter, without distinction of any
kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion,
nationality, political opinion or affiliation, ethnic
or social origin, disability, age, property, sexual
orientation, birth, income, caste or any other
status.
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On account of the particular discrimination faced
by women, both as waged and unwaged workers,
attention should be given to the specific application
of the rights stated below where women may be
affected.
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On account of their vulnerability and exploitation
in the labour market, special protection should be
accorded to children exposed to industrial hazards.
-
On account of the connection between low wages and
hazardous working environments and the
disproportionate impact of industrial hazards on
racial and ethnic minorities, special protection
should be afforded low income groups and racial
minorities.
Article 2: Relation to other
rights
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The rights in this charter and
other human rights, including civil, political,
economic, social and cultural rights, are
universal, interdependent and indivisible. In
particular, freedom from hazards, including the
right to refuse hazardous employment and the
right to organise against hazards, depends upon
the full implementation of social and economic
rights, including the rights to education, health
and an adequate standard of living.
|
Article 3: Right to
accountability
| All persons have the right to
hold accountable any individual, company or
government agency for actions resulting in
industrial hazards. In particular, parent
companies, including transnational corporations,
shall be liable for the actions of their
subsidiaries. |
Article 4: Right to organise
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All community members and workers have the right to
organise with other local communities and workers for
the purpose of seeking to ensure a working
environment free from hazard.
-
In particular, the right to organise includes:
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the freedoms of expression, association and
peaceful assembly;
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the right to form local, national and
international organisations;
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the rights to campaign, lobby, educate and
exchange information;
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the right to form trade unions;
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the right to strike or take other forms of
industrial action.
Article 5: Right to appropriate
health care
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All persons have the right to appropriate health
care.
-
In particular, the right to appropriate health care
includes:
-
the right of individuals and groups to
participate in the planning and implementation of
health care;
-
the right of equal access of individuals and
families to health care the community can afford;
-
the right to relevant health care services,
including where appropriate access to hospitals,
neighbourhood clinics, specialist clinics, as
well as the services of general practitioners,
other medical professionals and health care
workers drawn from the affected community;
-
the right to independent information on the
relevance and reliability of health care services
and treatments including allopathic, homeopathic,
nutritional, physiotherapeutic,
psychotherapeutic, indigenous and other
approaches;
-
the right to health care systems which
recognise and take account of the different ways
in which hazards affect women, men and children;
-
the right to health education;
-
the development of national, regional and
international networks to facilitate sharing of
information and experience.
Article 6: Right of refusal
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All communities have the right to refuse the
introduction, expansion or continuation of hazardous
activities in their living environment.
-
All workers have the right to refuse to work in a
hazardous working environment without fear of
retaliatory action by the employer.
-
The right to reject inappropriate legal, medical or
scientific advice shall not be infringed.
Article 7: Permanent sovereignty
over living environments
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Each state retains the right of permanent
sovereignty over the living environments within its
national jurisdiction. No state shall exercise this
right so as to injure the health or living
environments of its people, nor to cause damage to
the environment of other states or of areas beyond
the limits of national jurisdiction.
-
Each state has the right and the obligation to
regulate and exercise authority over hazardous and
potentially hazardous enterprises in conformity with
the interests and well-being of its people and their
environment.
-
No state shall be:
-
refused external finance or assistance on the
grounds of its refusal to import or establish
hazardous products or processes;
-
Compelled to grant preferential treatment to
foreign investment;
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Made subject to external threats or coercive
measures, whether military, diplomatic, social or
economic, intended to affect regulations or
policies regarding hazardous production.
-
Transnational corporations and multinational
enterprises shall not intervene in the internal
affairs of a host state.
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PART II: COMMUNITY
RIGHTS
Article 8: Right to living
environment free from hazards
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All persons have the right to a living environment
free from hazards. In particular, this right applies
where hazards arise from:
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the manufacture, sale, transport, distribution,
use and disposal of hazardous materials;
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any military or weapons application, regardless
of national security.
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Any person has the right to raise a bona fide
complaint to the owner or occupier of an economic
enterprise regarding activities of the enterprise
which he or she believes are hazardous to the living
environment.
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Any person living in an environment from which it
is impossible to eliminate a hazard shall have the
right to protective safety systems necessary to
eliminate any such hazard as far as possible. The
owners or occupiers of the concerned hazardous
enterprise may not refuse to provide the most
effective systems available on the grounds of cost or
inconvenience.
Article 9: Right to
environmental information
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All persons have the right to be given reasonable
notice of any proposal to establish, expand or modify
a hazardous industry in such location or in such a
manner as may put at risk public health or the living
environment. To achieve the full realization of this
right, the following steps shall be taken:
-
All states shall ensure that communities,
individuals and non-governmental organisations
have the right of access to full information
regarding the proposal. This right shall be
effective well in advance of official
authorization and shall not be abridged by claims
of commercial secrecy.
-
All states shall ensure that prior to official
approval of any hazardous enterprise, independent
and thorough assessments of the impact upon the
environment and public health be conducted in
consultation with the community. The methods and
conclusions of such impact assessments shall be
made available for public debate.
-
All persons have the right to be informed in their
own language and in a manner which they are able to
comprehend, of any possible hazards or risks
associated with any product or process used by any
enterprise with which they may come into contact.
-
All persons have the right to be informed of the
safety record of any economic enterprises whose
manufacturing or industrial processes could affect
their living environment, including the number of
accidents, the types of accidents that have occurred,
the extent of injuries resulting from such accidents
and any possible long-term adverse health effects.
-
All persons have the right to be informed of types
and quantities of hazardous substances used and
stored at the facility and emitted from the facility
and contained in any final products. In particular,
the right to information includes the right to
regular toxic release inventories where appropriate.
All persons living in the neighbourhood of hazardous
facilities have the right to inspection of factory
premises and to physical verification of hazardous
substances and processes.
-
All persons who live in environments in which they
may come into contact with materials or processes
that are known to be seriously hazardous and which
emanate from the activities of an economic
enterprise, have the right to be examined regularly
by an independent medical expert provided by the
owner or occupier of the enterprise.
Article 10: Right to community
participation
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All persons have the right to participate in
planning and decision-making processes affecting
their living environment.
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All persons have the right to planning and
decision-making proceedings which are:
-
public and open;
-
accessible to all in timing and location;
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widely advertised in advance;
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not restricted by literacy, language or format
of contributions.
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All persons have the right to express their
concerns and objections relating to hazards
associated with establishing, modifying or expanding
any economic enterprise.
-
All persons have the right to participate in the
design and execution of on-going studies to determine
the nature of any hazards to the living environment
resulting from an economic enterprise.
Article 11: Right to
environmental monitoring
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All persons have the right to regular and effective
monitoring of their health and the living environment
for possible immediate and long-term effects caused
by hazardous or potentially hazardous economic
enterprise.
-
All persons have the right to be consulted on the
frequency, character and objectives of environmental
monitoring. The right to organise non-professional
monitoring strategies, such as lay epidemiology,
shall be protected. The rights of women, whose
experience in providing health care may reveal
otherwise unidentified consequences of hazards, are
particularly affirmed.
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Any person who bona fide believes that his or her
community environment is endangered by the actions of
any economic enterprise, has the right to an
immediate and thorough investigation, to be carried
out by an independent agency at no cost to the person
acting bona fide.
Article 12: Right to community
education
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All persons have the right to the effective
dissemination of information regarding hazards in the
community. This right extends to instruction based
upon the best available information and standards,
drawn from both national and international sources.
-
States shall take effective steps to provide for:
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clear and systematic labelling of hazardous
substances;
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appropriate education of the community,
including children, on hazardous products and
processes;
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training of police, medical professionals and
other service providers on hazardous products and
processes.
Article 13: Right to community
emergency preparedness procedure
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All persons have the right to an appropriate
emergency preparedness procedure. Such procedure
shall include warning systems for impending dangers
and systems for immediate relief efforts.
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All states shall take steps to provide communities
with adequate emergency services, including the
provision of police, fire fighting, medical and
paramedical facilities and disaster management
services.
Article 14: Right to enforcement
of environmental laws
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All persons have the right to have their local
environment adequately and frequently inspected by a
trained environmental inspector who will rigorously
enforce the law and take punitive legal action when
serious breaches have taken place.
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All persons have the right to environmental
management legislation in compliance with the
precautionary principle, so that where there are
threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of
full scientific certainty shall not be used as a
reason to postpone cost-effective measures to prevent
hazards and environmental degradation.
Article 15: Rights of indigenous
peoples
-
Indigenous peoples have the right to protect their
habitat, economy society and culture from industrial
hazards and environmentally destructive practices by
economic enterprises.
-
Indigenous peoples have the right to control over
their land and resources management of their land
which includes the right to assess potential
environmental impacts and the right to refuse to
allow environmentally destructive or hazardous
industries to be set up on their land.
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PART
III: RIGHTS
OF WORKERS
Article 16: Specific Rights
of Workers
| In addition to their rights as
members of the community, workers have specific
rights applicable to their working environments. |
Article 17: Right to working
environment free from hazards
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All workers, both waged and unwaged, have the right
to a working environment free from any existing or
potential hazard arising directly or indirectly from
the activities of any economic enterprise in
particular from manufacturing or other industrial
processes.
-
Any worker has the right to raise bona fide
complaints to the employer or any outside parties
regarding conditions or practices in the working
environment that he or she believes are harmful or
hazardous without fear of retaliatory action or other
discriminatory action by the employer.
-
Any individual working in an environment from which
it is impossible to eliminate any hazard, shall have
the right to have provided, fitted free of charge and
maintained in fully effective order, protective
safety devices including personal protective
equipment necessary to eliminate any such hazard as
far as is possible. Employers may not refuse to
provide the most effective equipment available on the
grounds of cost or inconvenience.
-
All workers have the right to safe systems of work.
All employers have the duty to devise, provide,
maintain and regularly update safe systems of work
based on the best available information at all times.
-
No worker shall be subjected to exposure to a
chemical, product or process when a less hazardous
one could be substituted.
-
Governments and employers are responsible for
ensuring hazard-free working environments. The
inaction by either employer or government shall not
be an adequate excuse for a derogation of duty by the
other.
Article 18: Right to health and
safety information
-
All workers have the right to be given reasonable
notice of any proposed changes to their working
environments which may pose a threat to worker health
and safety.
-
All workers have the right to be informed in their
own language and in a manner they are able to
comprehend, of any known health hazard associated
with any substance, material or process with which
they come into contact during the course of their
employment.
-
All workers have the right to be informed of the
safety record of the work environment in which they
are employed, including the number and type of
accidents that have occurred, the extent of the
injuries resulting wherefrom and any known long-term
adverse health risks that result from the substances,
materials and processes used by the employer. Workers
have the right to be regularly informed of the safety
records of any economic enterprise affiliated by
common ownership to the economic enterprise in which
they work, and which uses any similar substance,
material or process to that used in their work
environment.
-
All workers employed in hazardous work environments
have the right to be examined by an independent
medical expert provided by the employer at the
commencement of employment and thereafter at periodic
intervals defined on the basis of the most
conservative estimate of potential risks, but in any
case not exceeding one year and to be furnished with
the resulting medical information.
Article 19: Right to worker
participation
-
All workers have the right to participate
effectively in management decision-making affecting
health and safety.
-
All workers have the right to elect safety
representatives. Such representatives have the right
to participate in joint committees, composed of
worker and management representatives in equal
number, which meet regularly to address health and
safety matters.
-
All workers have the right to participate in the
design and execution of ongoing health and safety
studies in their working environments to determine
the nature of any risks to health and safety.
-
All workers have the right to establish and
associate with community hazards centres and
information networks. Governments and employers have
a responsibility to support such organisations and
programmes.
Article 20: Right to health and
safety monitoring
-
All workers have the right to a work environment
that is regularly and effectively monitored for
possible harmful effects to the health and safety of
the workers employed therein.
-
Notwithstanding the duty of employers to monitor
working environments, the right of workers to seek
independent or worker-based monitoring shall not be
infringed. This right includes the right to regular
monitoring for possible adverse, long-term effects
which may result from contact with the substances,
materials or processes used in the working
environment.
-
Any worker who bona fide believes that his or her
health and safety is being or will be endangered by
any substance, material or process used in the work
environment has the right to an immediate and
thorough investigation, to be carried out by the
employer, an independent agency or by other means, at
no cost to the worker.
Article 21: Right to instruction
and practical training
-
All workers in contact with hazardous or
potentially hazardous substances, materials or
processes have the right to ongoing instruction and
practical training regarding management of the
hazard. The right to instruction and practical
training based on the best available information,
drawn from both national and international sources,
is affirmed.
-
All workers and supervisors have the right to know
and be fully instructed about the proper use and
handling of any hazardous materials, the proper
execution of any processes, the precautions necessary
to protect health, safety and the living environment,
and any procedures which should be followed in the
event of an emergency.
Article 22: Right to workplace
emergency preparedness procedure
-
All workers have the right to an emergency
preparedness procedure appropriate for the conditions
or practices in their work environment which shall
include warning systems for impending dangers and
systems for immediate relief efforts, with full scale
emergency preparedness rehearsals and desk top
exercises to be held frequently.
-
Emergency preparedness procedures shall take
account of the particular needs of individual
workers, including those with visual, hearing or
mobility impairments.
-
All workers have the right to adequate emergency
services, including police, fire fighting, medical
and paramedical facilities and disaster management.
Article 23: Right to enforcement
of health and safety laws
-
All workers have the right to have their work
environments adequately and frequently inspected by a
trained health and safety inspector who will
rigorously enforce the law and take punitive legal
action when serious breaches have occurred.
-
All workers have the right to adequate planning
control legislation in compliance with the
precautionary principle, so that where there are
threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of
full scientific certainty shall not be used as a
reason to postpone cost-effective measures to prevent
hazards and environmental degradation.
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PART IV: COMMON
RIGHTS TO RELIEF
Article 24: Right to relief
and compensation
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All persons injured or otherwise detrimentally
affected by any hazardous economic activity have the
right to swift, comprehensive and effective relief.
This right applies to all persons affected by hazards
or potential hazards, including persons not yet born
at the time of injury or exposure, and those injured,
bereaved or economically and socially disadvantaged,
whether affected directly or indirectly.
-
This right includes the right to fair and adequate
monetary compensation, paid to cover all costs
associated with hazardous or potentially hazardous
activities, including the costs of:
-
drugs, tests, therapies, hospitalisation and
other medical treatments;
-
travel and other incidental costs;
-
lost wages, bridging loans and other pecuniary
loss;
-
redundancy and unemployment in the case of
plant shutdown;
-
additional unwaged work, including health care,
born by family and community;
-
any purchase, measure or lost opportunity
caused directly or indirectly by hazardous
processes or products;
-
environmental rehabilitation.
-
All persons affected by hazards have the right to
effective and innovative policies to reduce, abate or
compensate for hazardous activities. To achieve the
realization of this right, the steps taken by states
and businesses shall include:
-
plant shutdown;
-
pollution abatements or cessation;
-
guarantee by liable defendants to keep assets
unencumbered;
-
forced liquidation of the assets of a
corporation whose liability is equal to or
greater than its measurable assets;
-
placement of corporate assets in annuity funds
controlled by the persons affected or their
representatives for the interests of persons
affected;
-
fair and adequate compensation for the costs of
the medical monitoring of symptoms;
-
other remedies that may be deemed to be
necessary for the benefits of persons affected.
-
Funds shall be established adequately to satisfy
the claims for the persons affected and of those
affected in future.
Article 25: Right to immediate
interim relief
-
All persons adversely affected by any hazardous
economic activity have the right to immediate and
adequate interim relief to alleviate their injuries
and suffering during the time that liability and
compensatory damages are being determined. States
shall ensure that all hazardous or potentially
hazardous enterprises provide financial resources,
through insurance or other means, adequate to cover
potential interim relief costs.
-
Where an economic enterprise fails to provide
interim relief, it shall be the duty of the state to
do so. Interim relief so provided will not be set-off
against any final compensation allowed by the court.
Article 26: Right to medical
information
| All persons immediately or
subsequently affected by hazardous activities,
including persons unborn at the time of the
exposure to hazard, have the right to obtain
relevant documents pertaining to injuries,
including medical records, test results and other
information. This right may be exercised at the
earliest opportunity and may not be made subject
to delay or non-compliance by either government
or industry. Such disclosure shall not be made in
a manner so as to prejudice the affected person's
right of access to any service, insurance,
employment or any social or welfare
opportunities. |
Article 27: Right to
professional services
-
All persons adversely affected by hazardous
activity have the right of access to effective
professional services, including the services of
lawyers, journalists, scientific experts and medical
professions.
-
Where questions of a scientific or medical nature
are in dispute, all affected persons, or their
representatives, have the right to genuinely
independent advice, free from fear or favour. The
right to seek independent or multiple advice is
affirmed.
-
Professionals and experts shall refrain from:
-
giving advice on the basis of inadequate
information or expertise;
-
obstructing the efforts of workers and
communities to seek information, conduct research
or gather data through lay epidemiology or other
means;
-
acting in concert against the interests of
workers and communities.
-
All professionals having control of any information
concerning the health of any injured or
hazard-affected person shall have a primary duty of
care towards the well being of that person. This duty
shall at all times take precedence over any
allegiance to any third party, including any
government, professional organisation or commercial
enterprise.
Article 28: Right to effective
legal representation
-
All persons adversely affected by hazardous
activities shall have the right to employ independent
legal counsel.
-
All states shall provide free legal representation
and legal assistance by an independent legal expert,
in any case where the interests of justice so
require.
-
In the determination of any suit, the persons
affected shall be entitled to consolidate the claims
under:
-
the auspices of a workers' or community
organisation; or
-
class action laws in which the rights of any
persons affected are determined in one action.
-
All persons bringing or attempting to bring legal
action have the right to inspect any relevant legal
files held by their legal representative.
Article 29: Right to choice of
forum
-
All persons adversely affected by hazardous
activities have the right to bring law suit in the
forum of their choice against alleged wrongdoers,
including individuals, governments, corporations or
other organisations. No state shall discriminate
against such persons on the basis of nationality or
domicile.
-
All states shall ensure that in the specific case
of any legal claims arising from the effects of
hazardous activities, any legal rule otherwise
impeding the pursuit of such claims, including
legislative measures and judicial doctrines, shall
not prevent affected persons from bringing suit for
full and effective remedies. In particular, states
shall review and remove where necessary, legal
restrictions relating to inconvenient forum,
statutory limitations, limited liability of parent
corporations, enforcement of foreign money judgements
and excessive fees for civil suits.
Article 30: Right to pre-trial
documentation
| All persons adversely affected
by a hazardous activity and their
representatives, have the right to seek and
receive relevant documents, records or other
information for submission in court or other
independent tribunal or forum, for establishing
individual, corporate, organisational or
governmental liability during litigation. |
Article 31: Right to fair
procedure
| All persons adversely affected
by hazardous activities shall have the right to a
fair and public hearing within a reasonable time
by an independent and impartial tribunal
established by law. Included in this right is the
right to the due process of law, including:
- the right to opt out of class actions;
- the right to a reasonable notice and
communication before an out-of-court
settlement in a civil suit is reached;
- the right to bring lawsuit notwithstanding
the period of limitation set by
administrative, legislative or judicial or
any other means.
|
Article 32: Right to freedom
from fraud and delay
| All persons adversely by
hazardous activities shall have the right to be
protected against fraud by corporations,
government or other organisations. Also
prohibited is intentional delay or obstruction of
the legal process, including:
- declaration of bankruptcy;
- abuse of the legal process to prolong
adjudication;
- fabrication of evidence.
|
Article 33: Right to enforcement
of judgements or settlements
| All persons adversely affected
by hazardous activities and their
representatives, shall have the right to enforce
any judgement or settlement against the assets of
the liable or settling party in any other
countries and it shall be the duty of each state
to provide under domestic law such comprehensive
instruments as assist any of its citizens so
affected. |
Article 34: Right to shift
the burden of proof
-
Where there is prima facie evidence that death or
injury was caused by an industrial hazard, the
hazardous economic enterprise has the burden of
proving that it was not negligent.
-
No person adversely affected by hazardous activity
shall be subjected to excessive documentation
requirements or strict standards of proof in
establishing that the hazardous activity caused their
illness or symptoms. The link between hazards and
illness shall be presumed if the affected persons
establish
-
they suffer from symptoms commonly associated
with any harmful substance, or any component
thereof, which contaminated the environment; and
-
either
-
they were present within the geographical
area of contamination during the period of
contamination; or
-
they belong to a group of persons commonly
identified as secondary victims, including
the siblings, partners, children or close
associates of the original victims of the
hazard.
Article 35: Right to corporate
or state criminal accountability
-
All persons who have suffered injury or death from
industrial hazards, have the right to a full criminal
investigation into the conduct of the economic
enterprise, any concerned government officials and
any other concerned individual or organisation. The
investigation shall be both immediate and rigorous
and shall include an assessment of whether potential
criminal offences, including homicide or
manslaughter, have been committed. Where sufficient
evidence exists prosecution shall be pursued promptly
and vigorously.
-
Where criminal liability of a company and or
individual is proved, such fines and or prison
sentencing are to be imposed as to have a punitive,
exemplary and deterrent effect.
Article 36: Right to secure
extradition
| Where a person accused of a
criminal offence in connection with hazardous
activities resides or is located in a state other
than that in which the trial is being or will be
conducted, the right to demand and secure the
extradition of the accused to the trial state is
hereby affirmed. |
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PART V:
IMPLEMENTATION
Article 37: Corresponding
duties
| All persons, individually and in
association with others, have a duty to protect
the rights set out in this Charter. Employers and
government officers are under a strict duty of
care in vigilant application of the rights.
Special responsibility for the realization of the
provisions of this Charter lie with trade unions,
community groups and non-governmental
organisations. |
Article 38: State
responsibilities
| All states shall respect and
protect the rights of workers and communities to
live free from industrial hazards. Accordingly,
they shall adopt legislative, administrative and
other measures necessary to implement the rights
contained in this Charter. |
Article 39: Non-state action
| The absence of state action to
protect and enforce the rights set out in this
Charter does not extinguish the duties of
employers, trade unions, non-governmental
organisations and individuals to protect and
assert these rights. |
This copy of the Permanent Peoples' Tribunal
Charter was provided by the Australian
Chemical Trauma Alliance Inc.
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