Happy Birthday IBAS!
With cake and candles, IBAS celebrated it's 10th anniversary amidst friends and colleagues in Osasco, Brazil on November 14, 2009.
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| Celebrating 10 years of IBAS – ABREA collaboration! |
Osasco, formerly the center of Brazil's asbestos-cement industry, is home to ABREA, the Brazilian association of the asbestos-exposed. From the beginning, IBAS worked closely with ABREA officials, members and supporters to highlight the Brazilian asbestos scandal and campaign for a global ban on asbestos.
The first activity which arose from the relationship between ABREA and IBAS was the Global Asbestos Congress 2000 (GAC 2000), the first event to bring together hundreds of asbestos victims, and victims' groups from scores of countries. The significance of the four days of GAC 2000 activities was huge; the events in Osasco revealed the latent power of the growing ban asbestos network and the multiple benefits of cooperation.
During the last 10 years, the virtual citizens' ban asbestos campaign has worked with international agencies, labor organizations, trade unions, medical associations, NGOs, campaigning groups, affected communities, environmental activists, legal groups and academics. Asbestos events have been held on six of the world's seven continents and the ban asbestos network has expanded into every asbestos producing country. To disseminate information worldwide, the IBAS website has been revised and expanded and a series of journals and monographs has been produced on a variety of asbestos issues.
The objectives of IBAS remain the same today as they were in 1999: a global ban on asbestos and justice for all asbestos victims. Progress is being made but much remains to be done. The struggle continues.
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| ABREA members congratulate IBAS Coordinator. |
November 18, 2009
