Multinational Convicted Of Dumping Dutch Toxic Waste In Africa

Africa A Frequent Toxic WasteToxic Waste Dump Site

The dumping of Dutch toxic waste in the Ivory Coast port of Abidjan has resulted in a conviction for the multinational Trafigura.

It was fined 836,894 euros by a Dutch court for the 2006 incident involving the ship Probo Koala. It transited Amsterdam and the company’s headquarters are based there.

Thousands of people suffered illnesses as a result, BBC reported. Trafigura denied any wrong doing.

The case involves chemical waste dumped in 2006 when Trafigura dumped the waste in 15 sites in Ivory Coast. An initital test report found that the gas resulted in deaths, severe skin and lung burns, vomiting and diarrhoea. The final test results were not released.

Trafigura already has agreed to pay the Ivorian government 104 million euros and 50 million euros to the victims.

Two men associated with a firm that negotiated with Trafigura were convicted in the case and ordered imprisoned for terms ranging from fiv years to 18.

Trafigura's lawyer Aldo Verbruggen said the charges were based on an unfounded moral judgment. He said: "Trafigura is a company that takes responsible entrepreneurship very seriously,” the Guardian reported.

Prosecutors said the company was supposed to contract with a specialist to store the waste in Ivory Coast but just dumped it over a fence.

A new laboratory has been set up in the Ivorian port city of Abidjan to improve the monitoring of hazardous materials under a project backed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) that aims to prevent a repeat of a notorious incident in which thousands of people were sickened by toxic waste.

The laboratory, which has been handed over to Cote d'Ivoire's environment ministry, is equipped to test for waste in ships entering the port, according to a press release issued by UNEP in Geneva.

There have been many stances of developed countries making deals to dump their waste in the Third World. Many, if not most, are not caught. When they are, it often is more effective to prosecute them in their home countries whose laws are stiffer. Their officials also are less likely to be bribed.