Ten employees including an engineer, who were severely burnt in yesterday’s factory fire in Keraniganj, died at Dhaka Medical College Hospital today.

With this, the death toll from the fire at the plastic factory in Hijoltola area, on the outskirts of Dhaka, raised to 11.

Ten of the deceased identities were found out of 11.

Yesterday, at least one worker was killed and 33 others were severely burnt in the fire. Ten of them suffered 100 percent burns and the rest have burns in at least 20 percent of their bodies.

Of the injured, 10 workers died at the burn unit of the hospital between 2:00 am and 9:00 am, DMCH Resident Surgeon Dr Nabin told The Daily Star.

One of the injured workers Zakir Hossain, 22, said the fire broke out at a room where eight cylinders of inflammable gas were kept. He added that there was a leak in the lines.

Around 300 people worked in two shifts at Prime Patent Plastic Limited. Around 150 people, including many women, were working when the fire started, said Zakir, who has been working there for the last four years for a monthly salary of Tk 12,000.

Police said the fire broke out around 4:15pm and engulfed the large tin shack quickly.

The factory used to manufacture single-use plastic glasses and plates.

Source : The Daily Star

Link : https://www.thedailystar.net/country/news/keraniganj-fire-death-toll-rises-9-1839316

At least 23 people died and more than 130 were injured in Sudan after a fire triggered an explosion at a factory in northern Khartoum on 03 December 2019, according to state news agency SUNA.
The incident happened while a tanker truck was offloading gas at a ceramics manufacturing company in an industrial area of the city, SUNA reported.
Sudan’s Council of Ministers said it had set up a committee to investigate the circumstances that led to the fire and how such accidents could be prevented, the agency said.

Report on Environment 

Key findings from the report to the United Nations General Assembly by David Boyd- the Special Rapporteur on the issue of human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment. This report was developed with the support of the United Nations Environment Programme as part of our continued partnership with the Rapporteur’s office on advancing environmental rights.

How climate change infringes on human rights

Climate change is here, and it is impeding the fulfilment of our rights. The right to life is universally recognized as a fundamental human right, yet, every year, 150,000 premature deaths are being linked to the climate crisis—a number set to increase with rising temperatures.

Climate-related deaths are caused by extreme weather events, heat waves, floods, droughts, wildfires, water-borne and vector-borne diseases, malnutrition and air pollution. The climate crisis threatens the right to water and sanitation, contributing to water crises like the one in Bolivia, where glaciers are receding, and water rationing has been required in major cities. At 2°C, 100 million more people are forecasted to face water insecurity.

The climate emergency also violates the right to health, not only through premature deaths, but also through increased incidences of respiratory and cardiovascular disease, malnutrition, stunting, wasting, allergies, injuries and mental illness. For example, dengue fever is the most rapidly spreading vector-borne disease, with a thirtyfold increase in global incidence that is largely attributable to climate change. According to the Lancet Commission on Health and Climate Change, the climate crisis is the biggest global health threat of the twenty-first century and could reverse five decades of progress in global health, particularly as it endangers the right to food.

“Climate variability and extremes are among the key drivers behind the recent uptick in global hunger and one of the leading causes of severe food crises. The cumulative effect of changes in climate is undermining all dimensions of food security—food availability, access, utilization and stability,” says the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in its 2018 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World.

Entire communities, such as Vunidogoloa, Fiji, have been or are in the process of being relocated owing to rising sea levels, coastal erosion, storm surges, salinization and other climate impacts. It is estimated that by 2050, 150 million people or more could be displaced by the impacts of the climate crisis. Over a longer timeframe, entire states are at risk of becoming uninhabitable, including Kiribati, Maldives and Tuvalu. This displacement is threatening the right to a healthy environment.

Using human rights approaches to inform climate change policies

The right to a healthy environment is recognized in law by at least 155 Member States. The failure of states to take adequate steps to address climate change may constitute a violation of the right to a healthy environment, as several courts have recognized.

As detailed in the Safe Climate report, governments have an obligation to take effective measures to mitigate climate change, enhance the adaptive capacity of vulnerable populations and prevent foreseeable loss of life. This includes preventing the potential violation of rights by third parties, especially businesses, as well as establishing, implementing and enforcing laws, policies and programmes to fulfil their citizens’ rights.

Importantly, the Special Rapporteur calls on wealthy states to contribute their fair share towards the cost of mitigation and adaptation in low-income countries—as countries are not equally responsible—nor affected—by the climate crisis.

Meanwhile, in his report he also identifies that, as a first step, corporations should comply with the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights as they pertain to human rights and climate change. Businesses should adopt human rights policies, conduct human rights due diligence, remedy human rights violations for which they are directly responsible, and work to influence other actors to respect human rights.

Applying a rights-based approach clarifies the obligations of governments and businesses, catalyses ambitious action, highlights the plight of the poorest and most vulnerable, and empowers people to become involved in designing and implementing solutions.

The human rights obligations related to climate change have been explored by various organizations, including international courts, governments and United Nations human rights bodies. These aforementioned experts, which include David Boyd, have reached two common conclusions: first, climate change and its impacts threaten a broad range of human rights, and second, as a result, states and private actors have extensive human rights obligations and responsibilities.

(Source : UN environment)

Link : https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/human-rights-are-threat-climate-change-can-also-provide-solutions

What you need to know about carbon footprints

The report found that consumers were confused about how to dispose of compostable packaging, which could result in contamination of recycling, as well as littering.

The committee said that materials were being used as substitutes for plastic “without proper consideration of wider environmental consequences, such as higher carbon emissions.”

In evidence included in the report, Juliet Phillips, ocean campaigner at the Environmental Investigation Agency stated that “if a biodegradable cup gets into the sea, it could pose just as much of a problem to marine life as a conventional plastic cup.”

The committee recommended that the UK Government should conduct a review of reusable and refillable packaging systems, and said that the UK government was not putting enough emphasis on reducing plastic food and drink packaging in the first place.

Plastic straws are the subject of the latest 2020 culture war

“We all know that plastic pollution of our rivers and seas is a huge problem. However, replacing plastic with other materials isn’t always the best solution, as all materials have an environmental impact,” said MP Neil Parish, the committee chair.

“My committee is also concerned that compostable plastics have been introduced without the right infrastructure or consumer understanding about how to dispose of them. Fundamentally, substitution is not the answer, and we need to look at ways to cut down on single use packaging,” he added.

“All food and drink packaging, whether plastic or another material, has an environmental impact,” the committee found.

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At least 23 people were killed and dozens injured, some of them seriously, when a powerful blast took place inside a three-storey firecracker factory in Batala town of Punjab on September 4.

According to eyewitnesses, the blast took place around 3:30 and people came out of their homes when they heard a loud noise.

The blast was so powerful that it also damaged four nearby buildings which include a Gurudwara, a computer centre and a car garage.

Located on the Samadh road, the illegal factory was being run in a residential area.The explosion was heard kilometers away, local residents said.

Some factory workers are still believed to be trapped inside the building rubble. “The immediate priority before the district administration was to rescue the people and to provide medical aid to the people who have been injured” Deputy Commissioner, Gurdaspur Vipul Ujjawal said.

The factory was also in news in 2017 when one person was killed in a blast. Some local residents claimed that several complaints have been filed with the district administration in the past, asking that the factory be closed down.

Source : India Today

Link : https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/was-threatened-with-rape-amity-student-releases-video-alleges-she-was-sexually-harassed-by-injured-student-1596317-2019-09-06