the toxic truth - Greenpeace

the toxic truth
Failure to prevent
the eXport and
dumping oF toXic
waste – responsibility
oF the netherlands
Legal responsibilities
of the Netherlands
The Netherlands is a party to the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights as well as the Basel Convention on
the Control of Transboundary Movements of
Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal (the
Basel Convention). Under these treaties, the
government is required to regulate traffic in,
and arrangements for, transport or disposal
of hazardous waste to ensure that it does not
pose a threat to the rights to health, life and
other human rights of communities who may
be exposed to such hazardous waste.
This chapter examines breaches of
international and European Union (EU) law by
the Netherlands, as well as specific breaches
of national law by both state and non-state
actors in the Netherlands. It demonstrates
that the failure to stop the waste from leaving
the Netherlands was a violation of national,
European and international environmental
law, and – given what the Dutch authorities
knew about the waste and its risks to health –
constitutes a violation of international human
rights law. Specifically, the government of the
Netherlands has breached its obligation to
protect the right health under the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights by failing to prevent Trafigura and the
15 September 2006, between 200 and 300 residents of
Akouédo protest over the toxic waste dumping. They blocked
traffic on one of the main roads. © ANP/AFP/KAmbou SiA
Probo Koala from exporting hazardous waste
from the Netherlands, which ultimately ended
up in Côte d’Ivoire.
The events in Amsterdam
The arrival of the Probo Koala in, and its
departure from, Amsterdam are described
in Chapter 3. The ship arrived on 2 July
2006, seeking to dispose of waste that was
described on official notification documents
as “MARPOL Annex 1; oily tank washings
including cargo residues”, and as “washwater
gasoline/caustic.” 492 APS, an officially
appointed port reception facility, had agreed
to process the waste, and offloaded a portion
on to one of its barges on the evening of 2
July. 493 However, early the next morning, the
Dutch authorities received reports of a bad
smell in the port area, and some people in
the vicinity of APS began experiencing health
impacts, including nausea and headaches. 494
APS tested the Probo Koala waste, and found
it was far more contaminated than expected,
and had a higher chemical oxygen demand
(COD) level than APS was able to process. 495
APS issued a revised quote, based on the
need to send the waste to a special facility
in Rotterdam. Trafigura rejected the revised
quote and asked that the waste be reloaded
on to the Probo Koala, with the intention of
disposing of it elsewhere. 496
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Chapter 9