Greenpeace, Amnesty Int'l report on Abidjan toxic dump out

A victim of the toxic dump

 Two years after a Dutch court has found multinational Trafigura guilty of illegally exporting toxic waste from Amsterdam to Cote d'Ivoire and concealing the nature of the cargo, Amnesty International and Greenpeace will be launching a joint investigative report on the incident which led to the death of many in the West African country.

According to a release from the two agencies, the report will  reveal full details on how toxic waste was allowed to be transported from Europe to West Africa in 2006 and the full scope of the role multinational company, Trafigura, played in dumping this waste, resulting in more than 100,000 people needing urgent medical treatment.

Another victim

"Justice has not been served for the victims in Abidjan, six years after this crime took place. While Trafigura was prosecuted for the illegal export of the waste from Europe, its role in the dumping has never been investigated," the release noted.

Amnesty International and Greenpeace are calling for a criminal investigation into the dumping scandal and for African governments to tighten their controls on foreign pollution.

The firm was fined 1m euros for its ship, the Probo Koala, transiting Amsterdam with its cargo. The ship then went on to unload its cargo in Ivory Coast.

Trafigura employee Naeem Ahmed, who was involved in the ship's operation in Amsterdam, was fined 25,000 euros and the captain of the Probo Koala, 46-year-old Sergiy Chertov, was sentenced to a five-year suspended jail term.

The Greenpeace/Amnesty International report provides comprehensive recommendations for what needs to happen to prevent such a disaster happening again.

Source: Economic & Financial Times