| Date issued |
24 January 2001 |
Where does a ship go to die? For decades, the work of ship-breaking has been cast adrift from one port to another, until today. Only a handful of nations are willing to accept the dirty and dangerous work of dismantling a ship by hand. It is one of the world's most unregulated industries, leaving a swath of debris, disability and even death in its wake. But for countries like Bangladesh, ship-breaking provides jobs and resources that it cannot afford to lose. The Shipbreakers exposes the atrocious working conditions of the men who dismantle ships. ILO cameras were granted special access to the shipbreaking yards of India and Bangladesh where ships are turned into scrap amid conditions that can turn workers into unwitting victims of gas explosions or tons of falling steel. Interviews with shipowners, government and industry experts as well as the workers themselves reveal the complex and often misunderstood issues that surround this industry. As more ships are put to sea, transporting the goods of globalizatio