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The Bhopal Disaster 40 Years On: Dow's and Investors' Role in Ensuring Remedy for Victims

Event Details

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As we approach the 40th anniversary of the Bhopal gas leak disaster in India, the Investor Alliance held on October 23 a special investor briefing on The Bhopal Disaster 40 Years On: Dow's and Investors' Role in Ensuring Remedy for Victims.

The disaster, which occurred in Madhya Pradesh state, remains one of the worst industrial catastrophes and corporate negligence cases in living memory. According to Amnesty International, more than 22,000 people have died as a direct result of exposure to the leak, with exposure-related deaths continuing to occur, and more than half a million people continue to suffer some degree of permanent injury.  

In March, Amnesty released a report entitled Bhopal: 40 Years of Injustice, providing an update on the situation of Bhopal survivors and efforts to ensure Dow contributes to remedying the human rights harms, which are now intergenerational, and remediating the ongoing environmental damage.  

This investor briefing shared key learnings and recommendations from the report and provided information about ongoing advocacy efforts to hold Dow to account through investor pressure and student mobilization. Investors learned from leading experts why decades later this disaster remains a salient human rights issue and material risk to investors. Importantly, investors had the opportunity to hear directly from advocates working with Bhopal survivors. 

Speakers:

  • Liz Umlas, Senior Fellow, Croatan Institute; Lecturer, University of Fribourg (Moderator)
  • Gabriela Quijano, Independent Business and Human Rights Specialist/Advisor; Lead author of the Amnesty Bhopal report
  • Amishi Singh, Amnesty International USA, Business and Human Rights Coordination Group; Student Activist
  • Rachna Dhingra, India Coordinator, International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal
  • Tim Edwards, Executive Trustee, Bhopal Medical Appeal
  • Bennett Freeman, Associate Fellow, Chatham House; Former Senior VP, Sustainability Research and Policy, Calvert Investments

Watch the full webinar here:

View the full slide deck here.

Should you have any questions, please reach out to Rebecca DeWinter Schmitt at rdewinter@iccr.org.

To learn more about the Bhopal disaster and read Amnesty International’s report, please see here.