4.20.2007 - 09:20am ET

(CSRwire) New York, NY – More than 1000 Amnesty members will protest outside of JP Morgan this Friday to call on the major Dow Chemical investor to raise the issue of ongoing human rights violations in Bhopal, India. This is the first time the annual rally has targeted a corporation rather than a foreign government and reflects Amnesty’s recognition that businesses are also engaged in human rights violations around the globe. The event is part of Amnesty International Group 133’s annual Get On The Bus (GOTB) rally that brings students from all over the Northeast to demonstrate some of the world’s most pressing concerns at several locations in New York City.

The rally comes on the heel of a number of scandals facing Dow Chemical from buyout denials, and related executive firings, to questions of Dow’s ability to invest in India. Last week, Amnesty International USA called for an investigation of Dow Chemical Co. by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), based on letters showing that Dow management is concerned about its ability to expand in India and is secretly pressuring the Indian government to rid the company of its legal liabilities related to the Bhopal disaster. Amnesty International and the New York State Comptroller co-filed a resolution asking Dow to report on any new initiatives to help the survivors of the Bhopal Disaster. The New York Times reported last week that JP Morgan tipped off Dow’s CEO that 2 senior executives for the company has been negotiating a buyout without Dow’s sanction.

JP Morgan was the 16th largest institutional investor in Dow (7 million shares) as of 12/31/06. The company has voted against a Dow shareholder resolution regarding Bhopal in past years. Amnesty International is calling on JP Morgan’s Board of Trustees to condemn human rights violations in Bhopal connected to Union Carbide/Dow Chemical; urge Dow to take appropriate responsibility for the continuing damage done to people’s health and the environment by ongoing contamination in Bhopal; and demand that Dow provide increased disclosure to shareholders about Bhopal by supporting the Bhopal resolution.

Bhopal action organizer Anna Phelan said, “By demonstrating outside JP Morgan Chase’s World Headquarters, the former Union Carbide Building, we seek to send a clear message to Dow’s management that promises by the company concerning its environmental and social obligations must be matched with action, especially in Bhopal. We also challenge JP Morgan match words with actions as “an environmentally-sensitive corporate citizen” – to demonstrate that its declared efforts to focus on the environment extend to supporting the Bhopal shareholder resolution.”

Since a catastrophic chemical leak at a Union Carbide (UC) pesticide plant in Bhopal, India on December 3, 1984, an estimated 22,000 have died and more than 100,000 people continue to suffer chronic and debilitating illnesses. Despite efforts by survivors, the plant site has not been cleaned up. As a result, abandoned toxic waste continues to pollute the environment and the water that surrounding communities drink. Following Dow Chemical’s 2001 acquisition of UC, Amnesty International has been calling on Dow management to address the continuing health, social, and environmental damage resulting from the ongoing contamination; Dow has consistently denied any responsibility for the damage caused by either the gas leak or the ongoing contamination.

Amnesty activists will also be demonstrating for the people of Darfur, to advocate for Mesfin Woldemariam, prisoner of conscience and one of Ethiopia's most prominent human rights defenders, and to bring the former Guatemalan dictator, General Efrain Rios Montt, to justice. Amnesty International Group 133 is one of the 1,500 Amnesty groups in the US, providing opportunities for human rights activism for concerned individuals in the Somerville, Arlington and Cambridge area of Massachusetts.

What: 12th annual Get On The Bus (GOTB)
Where: Several locations in NYC–
Speakers’ Panel at St Bart’s Church 109 E. 51st St. (11am-12:30pm);
J.P. Morgan Investor Relations Office, Former Union Carbide Building, 270 Park Avenue, 2:15pm-3:00pm
When: Friday, April 20, 2007
www.gotb.org

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