Chemical giant Dow's high-profile contract with 2012 London Olympics denigrates the suffering of the survivors of the Bhopal gas tragedy who are still awaiting justice even after 27 years, Amnesty International said today.
Dow Chemical Company has been granted a contract to provide a decorative fabric wrap to encircle London's Olympic stadium during the next year's Games.
Since 2001, Dow has been a 100% owner of Union Carbide Corporation (UCC), the company which held a majority share in the Indian subsidiary that owned and operated the UCC plant responsible for the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster.
"It is shocking to find out that it (Olympic Committee) has granted such a high-profile contract to a firm which has failed to address one of the worst corporate related human rights disasters of the 20th century," said Seema Joshi, Amnesty International's Head of Business and Human Rights.
"We feel that this denigrates the suffering of Bhopal's survivors, and their long struggle for justice."
In an open letter, Amnesty International asked the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games to explain how the contract complies with the committee's Sustainable Sourcing Code's social and ethical priorities.
"The fact that Dow is an official partners of the 2012 Olympic games continues to cause shock and distress among Bhopal survivors," the letter said.
In the world's worst industrial disaster, over 15,000 people were killed and thousands maimed when on the intervening nights of December 2-3, 1984, methyl isocyanate gas and other chemicals leaked from the plant owned by Union Carbide.
Twenty-seven years after the tragedy the site still awaits clean-up and a thorough investigation into the leak and its impact.
Survivors have not received fair compensation or access to the medical care they need. Survivors and human rights groups have been campaigning for Dow to address the ongoing health and environmental impacts of the disaster.
However, Dow has consistently rejected any responsibility for UCC's liabilities in Bhopal.
Amnesty International is currently awaiting a reply from the organising committee.