the toxic truth - Greenpeace

134 Amnesty internAtionAl And greenpeAce netherlAnds
Chapter 11
Problems with the
settlement agreement
Terms of the Ivorian Settlement are
expansive and far reaching
The term “Trafigura Parties” is broadly
defined and appears to provide any individual
and corporate entity linked to the Trafigura
Group with immunity from any form of legal
action relating to the toxic waste dumping
within Côte d’Ivoire, including prosecutions
for criminal actions. The clause waiving
proceedings or charges against the Trafigura
Group is particularly problematic in that it
provides guarantees of legal impunity, despite
the fact that charges against three Trafigura
executives were outstanding at that time.
Bail and surety was provided for these same
individuals. The state agreed to take on any
future claims against the Trafigura Group
but without creating a mechanism for these
to be brought foward. As detailed below,
victims report that they were neither informed
nor consulted about the agreement; this
underscores a larger issue – that victims were
not even aware that their rights were being
waived by the government.
Ambiguity in the terms of the agreement
relating to compensation
Under the settlement, there is a lack of clarity
about how the compensation should be
allocated. The agreement provided for payment
of CFA95 billion (US$200 million) to cover
compensation to both the state of Côte d’Ivoire
and the victims, as well as clean-up costs.
CFA22 billion (approximately US$44 million)
was earmarked for clean up and CFA73 billion
(approximately US$156 million) for
compensation. However, the agreement
contained no detail about the type of damage
that should be compensated, nor the amounts
that should be variously allocated to the state
and the victims.
Procedural inadequacies
Failure to provide information and consult with
victims
The settlement with Trafigura provoked public
outrage from victims about the lack of prior
consultation by the state, particularly in
relation to the agreement on compensation. 590
As noted above, at the time of the settlement,
the state had not quantified the scope of
the harm to victims nor determined the total
number of people and businesses affected. In
fact, the government drew up a list of victims
only after the settlement had been reached.
Despite the fact that the state did not have full
information, under the settlement, the state
waived any right to make future claims against
Trafigura.
Lack of payout to victims
As time passed, victims of the waste dumping
also became concerned about the amount of
money that the state was continuing to retain
from the settlement, rather than paying out
to victims. The state reserved the bulk of the
CFA73 billion (US$156 million) compensation
money for itself, stating, in June 2007, that
it would spend part of the money on “social
and community projects” in a number of areas
of Abidjan. The state only allocated one third
of the CFA73 billion compensation money to
victims. 591 Available information suggests