the toxic truth - Greenpeace

the toxic truth
Other failures
As noted earlier in this report, the dumping
of toxic waste in a developing country
recovering from the aftermath an internal
conflict generated a political, medical and
environmental crisis that stretched the
government’s resources to the limit. The
government took many positive steps to
respond to this emergency, including by
ensuring free medical treatment for tens of
thousands of people, immediately seeking
international assistance to deal with the
crisis and, with the help of the UN and other
agencies, trying to assess possible impacts
of the waste on water and the food chain.
However, there were also some significant
failures in the authorities’ response. These
included the failure of the government to
provide targeted health services to specific
communities in Abidjan that had been
severely affected by the dumping, such as
Djibi village. The Committee on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) has also
stated that the “right to treatment includes
the creation of a system of urgent medical
care in cases of accidents, epidemics and
similar health hazards, and the provision of
disaster relief and humanitarian assistance in
emergency situations”. 489
Though the government launched a
public awareness campaign and hired 30
psychologists to help people cope with
anxiety and trauma, it has not been able to
meet repeated demands from people for
information on the possible environmental
and health impacts of exposure to the waste.
As highlighted in later sections of this report
that consider effective remedies, this lack of
information has been exacerbated by the lack
of ongoing monitoring to identify potential
medium- to long-term impacts on people’s
health and the environment. This, in turn, has
led to persistent concerns about potential
impacts.
The collection, analysis and publication of
information is critical to ensuring that human
rights are protected in many contexts. The
CESCR has recognized the importance of
information in relation to the rights to health
and water, amongst others 490 and has affirmed
that access to health-related education and
information is an important component, and
an underlying determinant, of the right to
health. 491
The government also failed to take measures
to protect the rights to health and life of
prisoners in MACA prison, who were left
exposed to the toxic waste until October
2006. The prisoners were not evacuated from
the prison, nor was the waste cleaned up from
outside the prison, despite the authorities’
awareness of the risks that exposure to the
waste posed to the prisoners’ health. This
is contrary to the government’s obligations
under Article 12 of the International Covenant
on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and
can also violate Articles 6, 7 and 10 of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights.
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Chapter 8