15 September
2006 - International — Toxic waste from Europe
openly dumped on the streets of an African capital
city. Six people dead and thousands requiring
medical treatment. The Ivory Coast cabinet resigns
but still no one owns up to the dumping. How could
this be allowed to happen?
The scandal of the toxic waste
dumped in the Ivory Coast first came to light
on September 6 when the first casualties where
reported and protests broke out on the streets
against the government, which was blamed for allowing
the dumping.
There is no doubt that the wastes
are deadly. Four of the six dead are children
and 23 people have required hospital treatment
so far. The fact that the toxic waste was dumped
openly on the streets of a city is shocking enough.
The fact that the waste was delivered by a ship
chartered by Trafigura LTD (controlled by Dutch
firm Trafigura Beheer BV), who claimed they thought
the waste would be 'properly treated' in a poor
African nation raises serious questions about
why they sent it to Africa. The fact that international
law may have been broken makes it a serious scandal
that such deadly incidents still occur today.
Back from the past?
We campaigned long and hard
for an international ban on the dumping of toxic
waste by rich countries in poor countries, which
resulted in the Basel Ban in 1998. So we want
to know how the dumping occurred, what was dumped
and who is responsible. A full version of what
we know to date is available but here is a short
summary:
On 19 August, a ship called
the Probo Koala unloaded a toxic waste shipment
in Abidjan, the main economic capital of the Ivory
Coast. However it was not until the first week
of September that the incident came to light.
The Ivorian Ministry of Health announced an extraordinary
meeting that led to the dismissal of its government
on 6 September.
As international and/or local
environmental laws may have been broken, we are
calling for a transparent and thorough investigation
by the respective international and local authorities.
The facts behind this deadly tragedy in the Ivory
Coast remain obscured by the vessel charterer,
Trafigura.
We continue to investigate the
chain of events, but the lack of transparency
in the shipping industry as a whole, and specifically
from Trafigura and various port authorities, are
hiding the facts from the public. Official investigations
on the national and international levels are urgently
called for to establish liabilities, to indicate
where nations are failing to uphold their international
commitments and to make sure this deadly type
of export never happens again.
Mystery movements
On July 2 the Probo Koala attempted
to unload waste in Amsterdam. Noting the strong-smelling
nature of the waste and probable toxic nature,
harbour authorities told the ship that the waste
would be more expensive to dispose of. The ship
refused to pay extra treatment costs and left
Amsterdam. Where the ship went between the 2 July
and 19 August, and what it did with its toxic
cargo, remains unclear.
Once in Abidjan the ship unloaded
waste supposedly to be treated by an Ivorian waste
handling firm. In fact the waste, which appears
to consist of volatile hydrocarbons, was dumped
at 11 sites in the city. Symptoms reported by
those who come in contact with the waste include
respiratory problems, nausea, dizziness, vomiting
(including throwing up blood), burns and irritation
from the toxic waste.
Will anyone take responsibility?
Once it is established where
the waste originated in Europe, that country could
be liable to take back the waste. If the toxic
waste was considered regulated under the Basel
Convention and bound for export, the Dutch Authorities
could have prevented the ship leaving with toxic
waste onboard.
While it is obvious that the
crisis could not have happened without the local
public and private complicity, the company Trafigura
clearly should be the centre of an investigation
into any attempt to take advantage of legal loopholes
and grey areas to assess if it deliberately broke
the law.
