The Courier

Brahim El Anatsui, Wastepaper Bags, 2004, variable installation (tallest 205 cm), used aluminium printing plates. "Dak'art 2006", Dakar 9/5 - 5/6/2006.

Credit Dak'Art and artist.

The year, 1987: Not one week went by without conservationists denouncing a new contract or a new transfer of toxic wastes to developing countries. In a guide to what he refers to as the West African ‘waste bin’, the Belgian MP, François Roelants du Vivier, lists in his book (Les vaisseaux du poison, Editions Sang de la terre, Paris 1988) the names of 13 countries in Africa, including Nigeria, where 4,000 tonnes of chemical waste from Italy were discovered at Koko. Then the German ‘poison ship’, the ‘Karin B’, roamed from port to port; on board barrels dripping with PCB were repatriated to Livorno, Italy.

At the time, this crusade ended in the adoption of a legislative arsenal aimed at regulating this hazardous business. On March 22, 1989, the Basel Convention on the Control of Cross-border Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal came into force, as did the ban the export of such substances by OECD Member States to non-Member countries. Then, on January 31, 1991, Member States of the Organisation of African Unity (AU) sanctioned the Bamako Convention, imposing a ban on the import of toxic waste to Africa making up for the deficiencies of the Basel Convention on this subject. As for the European Council, it adopted a resolution on February 1, 1993 on the Supervision and Control of Shipments of Wastes circulating within, entering and exiting the EU.

Consideration of issues on the transport and disposal of hazardous wastes is written in black and white in Article 32 of the Cotonou Agreement between EU and ACP countries, signed in 2000.

A very lucrative trafficking business

It is still necessary to enforce laws against individuals or companies for whom their infringement can be extremely profitable. At the end of the 1980s, the average cost per tonne for the disposal of hazardous wastes was US$250 in the United States, whereas one contract for the burial of wastes only offered payment of US$2.5 per tonne to Benin’s Government. And according to the former Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Mustafa Tolba, the firms dumping these lethal products make around of US$10 million dollars profit per cargo!

This is precisely the sort of calculation made by those responsible for the dumping of toxic wastes at several landfill sites in Abidjan last August by the Panamanian vessel, Probo Koala, belonging to a Greek ship-owner. It was chartered by the Dutch company Trafigura Beheer, anxious to avoid the high costs of waste treatment in the Netherlands, which has the facilities, and instead transferred them to West Africa, Greenpeace observes.

Deadly cocktail

The damage was considerable. The Ivorian Minister for Health reported on October 13, 2006, 10 deaths, 69 hospitalisations and over 100,000 medical consultations of people poisoned by the fumes from these toxic wastes: 528 tonnes of a deadly cocktail based on petroleum, hydrogen sulphide, caustic soda and phenol. The tally of total damage, which included the pollution of water tables, of the waters in the Ebrie Lagoon, of fish and agricultural products originating from contaminated areas as well as compensation to be paid to the victims and producers involved, was still ongoing at the end of 2006.
In Côte d’Ivoire, on the other hand, the event triggered a ministerial reshuffle. The ministers for transport and environment were swiftly dismissed. An operational cell for the coordination of the national plan to control toxic wastes and two investigative committees, one national, one international, were set up by Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny. On top of the investigation launched by the Law Officer of the Treasury to bring about criminal justice proceedings, the two committees have to determine responsibility at both national and international levels.

EU Environment Commissioner on the offensive

European Commissioner for the Environment, Mr Stavros Dimas, took the initiative in EU circles. After learning that the non-governmental organisation Greenpeace had identified the ‘ship of death’ in the Estonian port of Paldiski and organised commando action to keep it there, Stavros Dimas arrived at the site just two days later. In a press statement, the Commissioner voiced his support for the Estonian authorities’ decision to pursue the perpetrators of these illegal transfers once a search of the ship had confirmed the presence of highly toxic substances on board.

At the meeting of EU Environment Ministers on October 23,  2006, the Commissioner proposed that such environmental crimes become part of criminal legislation in EU Member States and be punished accordingly by fines or prison sentences. But there is still a long way to go before this is achieved, as the Member States were hesitant to support the Commissioner, arguing that the clampdown on such deeds was a matter for their exclusive jurisdiction. But the European Court of Justice (ECJ) backed up the Commissioner stating that using criminal legislation to protect the environment did fall in his powers.

In the wake of the Court’s opinion, on February 9, 2007, Stavros Dimas proposed a new EU directive to make crimes against the environment part and parcel of criminal law, to give more weight to the restrictions on illegal exports of toxic waste. Justice is taking its course. ‘Eurojust’, an institution established in 2001 by the EU to combat serious crime, comprised of lawyers, magistrates, prosecutors, judges and experts from Member States, announced on October 20 that it had set up a coordination mechanism between the Estonian, Dutch and Ivorian authorities to facilitate investigations into the transportation of waste by the Probo Koala.

ACP Summit’s condemnation

Pressure has continued on another front. On Côte d’Ivoire’s initiative, the Heads of State and government leaders of ACP countries condemned the transportation and dumping of toxic wastes in their countries, described as a “direct threat to the long-term management of natural resources, environmental protection and the health and well-being of the populations”. The resolution also asks all States to implement agreements on the dumping of toxic or hazardous products, to ratify all the amendments to the Basel Convention and to take appropriate legislative measures to classify the violation of international agreements in the field as criminal acts. The initiative is now in the hands of the OECD and the EU (the Member States, the Commission and the European Parliament) to whom the resolution is addressed. The battle continues…