WSIL Hosts Internationally Renown Speaker to Discuss the 1984 Bhopal Disaster
WSIL Hosts Internationally Renown Speaker to Discuss the 1984 Bhopal Disaster
Just after midnight on
December 3rd, 1984, twenty-seven tons of methyl-isocyanate gas were
released from a Union Carbide pesticide plant in the city of Bhopal, India. The
cause was the implementation of cost-cutting measures by a prestigious American
corporation. The effect was the tortured deaths of thousands of people as a
poisonous cloud rolled silently through the streets of Bhopal. More than a
hundred thousand continue to suffer from the poisoning to this day. Twenty-three
years later, a new generation in Bhopal has seen tragically high rates of
grotesque birth-defects and crippling cancers. The factory was abandoned and
never cleaned up. Former Union Carbide CEO Warren Anderson remains wanted in
India on charges of culpable homicide, but has never been extradited.
On Tuesday, November 13, 2007, the Wyoming Society for International Law (WSIL) hosted H. Rajan Sharma (photo right), attorney for the victims and survivors of the Bhopal Disaster in a case against Union Carbide. Mr. Sharma provided a rare glimpse into American corporate responsibility in developing world. Mr. Sharma is known for his extensive work in representing the victims of the 1984 Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal, India. Additionally, Mr. Sharma has brought suit against French and British banking institutions on behalf of Holocaust survivors for illegal wartime confiscation of assets, and he has represented victims of human rights abuses in Darfur. In In re German & Austrian Holocaust Litigation, Mr. Sharma helped negotiate a landmark $5.2 billion settlement from the governments of France, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland for complicity in war crimes. He is lead counsel in a class action lawsuit on behalf of 3,000 plaintiffs against the State Bank of India.
Mr. Sharma is a graduate of the American University School of Law in Washington D.C., and has been a visiting professor at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. He has been published extensively on the subjects of international law, human rights, dispute resolution, and complex litigation. He has been featured in The American Lawyer, ABC News, CNN, The History Channel, Democracy Now!, Voice of America, National Public Radio, PBS, The Statesman, The Times of India, The Hindustan Times, Frontline Magazine, Asian Outlook, New Scientist, and has been the subject of a major documentary on the litigation of disaster.
For more information about the Bhopal disaster, check out www.bhopal.org or www.bhopal.net.
The WSIL is a student group at the University of Wyoming College of Law. Mr. Sharma’s appearance was made possible by the generous grants of:
ASUW, UW College of Law, UW College of Health Sciences, UW International Programs, UW International Studies Visiting Speaker Series, Potter Law Club, UW College of Business, First Interstate Bank, Wyoming Law Students for Equal Justice, UW Indian Students Organization, UW Religious Studies Program, & UW International Students Association
Photo left: Law student Izaak Schwaiger introduces Mr. Sharma at the evening presentation held at the Union.