the toxic truth - Greenpeace

16 Amnesty internAtionAl And greenpeAce netherlAnds
kEy faCTS Of ThE CaSE
about Côte d’IvoIre
At the time of the events described in
this report, Côte d’Ivoire was emer-
ging from a serious political and military
crisis during which widespread human
rights violations were committed.
In September 2002, following an
armed uprising, the country was divided
in two, with the South controlled by
the government and the North held by
a coalition of armed opposition groups
called the Forces Nouvelles. In the
following years, both sides committed
serious human rights violations, some
amounting to war crimes and crimes
against humanity, including rape and
sexual violence used as a weapon
of war.
On 4 March 2007, an agreement was
signed by the then President, Laurent
Gbagbo, and the Forces Nouvelles.
Despite ongoing reports of serious
human rights abuses in some areas,
the situation in the country was
relatively peaceful until 2010. The
November 2010 presidential elections
led to a political stalemate after
outgoing President Laurent Gbagbo
refused to recognize the victory of
Alassane Ouattara. After months of
fighting, where war crimes and crimes
against humanity were committed
by all sides, Alassane Ouattara was
sworn in as President in May 2011
and institutions of government, which
had been severely disrupted, began to
operate again.
International law on hazardous
waste and human rights
The illicit dumping of hazardous waste – often in developing
countries – has been recognized in international law as a serious
problem both for the environment and for people’s human rights.
A number of legal instruments are in place at international,
regional and national level, which aim to control the movement of
dangerous waste. A number of these laws are directly relevant to
the events described in this report and are outlined here:
Basel Convention on the Control of
Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes
and their Disposal (Basel Convention) 8
The Basel Convention is an international treaty for the control
and regulation of waste material that requires special attention
or may pose a hazard to human health or the environment. 9 At the
time of writing, 179 countries are party to, and therefore legally
bound by, the treaty. Although the treaty primarily addresses the
transboundary movement of hazardous and some defined “other”
wastes, it also contains legal obligations to reduce the generation
of wastes, recognizing that this is the best way to protect human
health and the environment from the effects of such wastes.
The Basel Convention defines wastes as “substances or
objects which are disposed of or are intended to be disposed of
or are required to be disposed of by the provisions of national
law” (Article 2). The term “disposal” is defined as meaning
any operation specified in Annex IV of the Basel Convention;
Annex IV includes operations for both final disposal (under
Annex IV A) or recycling (under Annex IV B). Consequently, any
substance that is intended for final disposal, recovery or reuse
destinations is a “waste” under the treaty. In addition to the
obligation to reduce the generation of hazardous waste, the
Basel Convention creates obligations for the environmentally
sound management of any hazardous waste that is generated,
in order to protect human health and the environment.
The Basel Convention defines any transboundary movement
of hazardous or other wastes as illegal traffic if it is done:
without notification to the state to which the waste is to be
taken, requesting consent of that state; on the basis of consent
obtained through falsification, misrepresentation, or fraud; if it
does not conform in a material way with the documentation; or
if it results in deliberate improper disposal (such as dumping). 10
The Convention also states that illegal traffic in hazardous
wastes or other wastes is criminal. 11