Thai officials seize over 200 tons of electronic waste illegally imported from the US
Thai officials seize over 200 tons of electronic waste illegally imported from the US
Thai officials said Wednesday they seized 238 tons of illegally imported electronic waste from the United States at the port of Bangkok, one of the biggest lots they've found this year.
The waste, which came in 10 large containers, was declared as mixed metal scrap but turned out to be circuit boards mixed in a huge pile of metal scrap, said Theeraj Athanavanich, director-general of the Customs Department. It was found Tuesday in a random inspection.
A UN report last year said electronic waste is piling up worldwide. Some 62 million tons of electronic waste was generated in 2022 and that figure is on track to reach 82 million tons by 2030, the report said.
It said only 22% of the waste was properly collected and recycled in 2022 and that quantity is expected to fall to 20% by the end of the decade due to higher consumption, limited repair options, shorter product life cycles, and inadequate management infrastructure.
Theeraj said Thai authorities are looking to press charges including falsely declaring imported goods, illegally importing electronic waste and planning to return the waste to its country of origin.
'It's important that we take action on this kind of goods,' he said. 'There are environmental impacts that are dangerous to the people, especially communities around factories that might import these things for processing, then recycling.'
Electronic waste creates huge health hazards. Many components are laden with lead and mercury, cadmium and other toxins. Recyclers are after gold, silver, palladium and copper, mainly from printed circuit boards, but lax controls mean that facilities often burn plastics to release encased copper and use unsafe methods to extract precious metals.
Thailand passed a ban on the import of a range of electronic waste products in 2020. The Cabinet in February approved an expanded list of the banned waste.
Sunthron Kewsawang, deputy director-general of the Department of Industrial Works, said officials suspected at least two factories in Samut Sakhon province, which borders Bangkok, are involved in importing the waste.
In January, the Customs Department said it seized 256 tons of illegally imported electronic waste from Japan and Hong Kong at a port in eastern Thailand.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Mint
32 minutes ago
- Mint
The return of a mask stolen by Belgium is stoking violence in Congo
Whenever a Belgian king takes an interest in the Congo, history looms large. In the late 19th century King Leopold II turned the territory into a giant slave plantation, murdering, raping and slicing off limbs in a ruthless bid to profit from its resources. So when Philippe, Belgium's current king, visited the Democratic Republic of Congo in June 2022, he did so in the spirit of atonement. He wanted to open a 'new chapter" in the two countries' relations, he said, and handed over a precious wooden carving known as the Kakungu mask, one of thousands of cultural artefacts looted from Congo that Belgium has promised to give back. Alas, violence seems to have followed Philippe into the Congo like Leopold's ghost. In the same month that he visited, ethnic conflict broke out in Kwamouth, a district just north of Kinshasa, the capital. It pitted the local Teke people against their neighbours, the Yaka and the Suku. The Kakungu mask is venerated by both the Suku and Yaka as an ancestral symbol of war. They believe it confers magical powers on their fighters, making them invulnerable to bullets and giving them the ability to disappear. These attributes had helped their ancestors resist colonisation. According to the UN Group of Experts on the Congo, the return of the Kakungu mask has emboldened Suku and Yaka militias, who call themselves 'Mobondo", to carry out vicious attacks on Teke communities. At least 300 people have been killed and some 160,000 have been forced to flee. The true death toll is probably far higher, though no one knows for sure because the Congolese army has sealed off the worst-affected areas. Humanitarian groups cite unconfirmed figures of more than 3,000 deaths. 'Wait a few years and we'll start finding mass graves," says a journalist based in Kinshasa. Although the return of the Kakungu mask may well have inflamed the violence, the conflict has deeper roots. It began with a disagreement over land rights. The Yaka and Suku had for years paid taxes to Teke customary chiefs in return for permission to farm the land. An attempt by those chiefs to increase the customary tax in early 2022 was the trigger for the initial clashes, which have spiralled into something verging on ethnic cleansing. The Mobondo appear to be trying to drive out the Teke from Kwamouth and nearby areas. The Congolese government has made things worse. It appointed a 'pacification commission" to defuse the conflict in September 2022, led by a member of the Suku royal family, Fabrice Kavabioko, who is also known as King Mini-Kongo. But, according to a UN report, Mr Kavabioko is one of the figureheads of the Mobondo and 'was accused of having been an instigator of the conflict". Many Teke thus felt that the government had sided with their rivals. Mr Kavabioko has reportedly said he was 'entrusted with the restoring peace" and that he had done so. Nearly 300 suspected Mobondo fighters have since been detained, according to Human Rights Watch, an international monitor. Yet over 1,000 more faced no punishment at all. Instead, under a deal apparently brokered by Mr Kavabioko, some were drafted into the Congolese army and sent to fight against M23, a Rwanda-backed rebel group active in the country's far east. 'The lack of accountability for alleged perpetrators deepens mistrust among communities," says Thomas Fessy, a Congo researcher at Human Rights Watch. Congo's army may have also been heavy-handed with Yaka and Suku communities suspected of harbouring Mobondo militants. Five soldiers have been convicted of rape or extrajudicial killings. Some reckon the government is blocking journalists and aid workers from entering Kwamouth for fear they will unearth evidence of further abuses by the armed forces. The Mobondo, meanwhile, continue to attack soldiers and civilians alike. Sign up to the Analysing Africa, a weekly newsletter that keeps you in the loop about the world's youngest—and least understood—continent.
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
7 hours ago
- Business Standard
US sanctions Palestinian NGO, others over alleged ties with militant groups
Those sanctioned include Addameer, a nongovernmental organisation that was founded in 1991 and is based in the city of Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank AP Washington The US Treasury Department on Tuesday imposed sanctions on a major Palestinian legal group for prisoners and detainees along with five other charitable entities across the Middle East, Africa and Europe, accusing them of supporting militant groups, including Hamas' military wing, under the pretense of humanitarian aid in Gaza. Those sanctioned include Addameer, a nongovernmental organisation that was founded in 1991 and is based in the city of Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The Palestinian group provides free legal services to Palestinian political prisoners and detainees in Israeli custody and monitors the conditions of their confinement. The federal government claims that Addameer has long supported and is affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a secular, left-wing movement with a political party and an armed wing that has carried out deadly attacks against Israelis. Israel and the United States have labelled the PFLP a terrorist organisation. Addameer did not immediately have a comment on the sanctions. Israel has alleged that Addameer funds terrorism, a claim that the United Nations previously said it could not support with compelling evidence. In a 2022 report on human rights practices, the US State Department noted Israel's arrest of Salah Hammouri, a French-Palestinian human rights lawyer and an Addameer employee, in a section on retribution against human rights defenders. The organisation also works with Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and is a member of the World Organization Against Torture. Israel's 2022 storming of Addameer's offices, prompted a rebuke from the UN, who said in a statement that Israel had not provided convincing evidence to support the claim. The UN said Addameer was conducting critical human rights, humanitarian and development work in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. In February, Zachor Legal Institute, an Israeli-American advocacy group that says it focuses on combatting antisemitism and terrorism, requested Addameer be added to Treasury's sanctions list. The letter, which was written by Zachor, signed by 44 other groups and is addressed to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, relies in part on undisclosed evidence from the Israeli Security Agency in its call for sanctions on Addameer. Marc Greendorfer, president of Zachor Legal Institute said in an email to the Associated Press that his group is very pleased to see Treasury following up on our request. He said the federal government should act to prevent hostile foreign actors from spreading hate and violence in the United States. We applaud Treasury's action and encourage Treasury to expand its focus to the other groups that we identified. Other entities hit with sanctions Tuesday include: 1. The Gaza-based charity Al Weam Charitable Society and its leader 2. The Turkish charity Filistin Vakfi and its leader 3. El Baraka Association for Charitable and Humanitarian Work and its leader 4. The Netherlands-based Israa Charitable Foundation Netherlands and two employees 5. The Italy-based Associazione Benefica La Cupola d'Oro A 2024 Treasury report on terrorist financing highlights how online crowdfunding is increasingly done under the guise of soliciting legitimate charitable donations, making it difficult to identify as terrorist financing. Because the majority of crowdfunding activity is legitimate, this status can make it more difficult for law enforcement attempting to investigate potential (terrorist financing) cases with a crowdfunding and online fundraising nexus," the report said. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Hindu
16 hours ago
- The Hindu
UN experts accuse Israel of 'extermination' in attacks on Gaza schools, religious sites
An independent United Nations commission said on Tuesday Israeli attacks on schools, religious and cultural sites in Gaza amount to war crimes and the crime against humanity of seeking to exterminate Palestinians. "Israel has obliterated Gaza's education system and destroyed over half of all religious and cultural sites in the Gaza Strip," the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory said in a report. It accused Israeli forces of committing "war crimes, including directing attacks against civilians and wilful killing, in their attacks on educational facilities that caused civilian casualties. "In killing civilians sheltering in schools and religious sites, Israeli security forces committed the crime against humanity of extermination," the report said. It noted: "While the destruction of cultural property, including educational facilities, was not in itself a genocidal act, evidence of such conduct may nevertheless infer genocidal intent to destroy a protected group." Commission chair Navi Pillay said in a statement accompanying the report: "We are seeing more and more indications that Israel is carrying out a concerted campaign to obliterate Palestinian life in Gaza." "Children in Gaza have lost their childhood," the senior South African judge said. "They are forced to worry about survival amid attacks, uncertainty, starvation and subhuman living conditions." The three-member commission said Israeli attacks "targeted religious sites that served as places of refuge, killing hundreds of people, including women and children". 'Genocide' warning The commission was set up by the UN to investigate violations of humanitarian and human rights law in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories. In May, UN humanitarian relief chief Tom Fletcher urged the countries of the UN Security Council to take action "to prevent genocide" in Gaza. Israel has denied committing genocide. The UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs demanded that Israel lift its aid blockade on Gaza, where the UN says the entire population of more than two million people is at risk of famine. "For those killed and those whose voices are silenced: what more evidence do you need now?" Fletcher said on May 14. "Will you act -- decisively -- to prevent genocide and to ensure respect for international humanitarian law?" The UN commission's report paid special attention to Gaza but also focused on Israeli attacks on civilians in the occupied Palestinian territories as a whole, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel itself. It said Israel had "done little" to prevent or prosecute Jewish settlers in the West Bank who "intentionally targeted educational facilities and students to terrorise (Palestinian) communities and force them to leave their homes". The report said Israeli authorities had intimidated and, in some cases, detained Israeli and Palestinian teachers and students who "expressed concern or solidarity with the civilian population in Gaza". Call to Israel The panel urged the Israeli government to stop attacking cultural, religious and education institutions, "immediately end its unlawful occupation of Palestinian territory" and cease all settlement activity. It said the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should comply fully with provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice. The court has ordered Israel "to prevent and punish the direct and public incitement to commit genocide against people in Gaza" and allow humanitarian aid to get through. It also urged Hamas, the Islamist militant group that runs Gaza, "to cease using civilian objects for military purposes". Hamas fighters launched an attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures. In response Israel launched an offensive during which the health ministry in Gaza says at least 54,880 people, the majority of them civilians, have been killed. The UN considers these figures reliable. The commission is to present its findings to the UN Commission on Human Rights on June 17.
