Dutch 'reluctant' to help UN in toxic waste investigation

The people of Ivory Coast are not angry with the Dutch. But why was the Probo Koala, the ship that dumped 400 tons of toxic waste in their country, allowed to leave Amsterdam? The Dutch-registered oil trading firm Trafigura, which denies responsibility, has paid Ivory Coast a 200 million dollar settlement. But many questions surrounding the scandal remain unanswered.

The United Nations special investigator Okechukwu Obinna Ibeanu visited the Netherlands last week to find out more about the role of the Dutch cabinet, Amsterdam city council, Amsterdam harbour officials and Trafigura in the Probo Koala affair. His report is due to be published at the beginning of next year.

The role of the Netherlands in the toxic waste scandal of August 2006 is not a pretty one. Trafigura is a Dutch-registered firm and Amsterdam city council made no effort to prevent the Probo Koala from leaving the city’s port, in spite of repeated signals that something was amiss with its cargo.

The Dutch prosecution service is still pursuing a case against the city council, the captain of the Probo Koala, Trafigura and the waste disposal firm Amsterdam Port Services.

In Ivory Coast, two people have been sentenced to twenty and five years respectively for their involvement in the case. But “they’re small fish,” says Ibeanu.

Serious health problems

Between three and seventeen people in Ivory Coast died after the Probo Koala dumped toxic waste off the country’s coast and tens of thousands suffered serious health problems.

But local people are “not angry” with the Dutch, says Ibeanu. “They are more angry with their own government which has done very little to contain the consequences of the disaster. They are unhappy about the cleaning up operation, the lack of information and the way the courts have handled their claims for compensation.”

During discussions with members of the Dutch parliament, Ibeanu stressed that this case is not just an example of a Western country exploiting a developing one. “It touches us all.” In Amsterdam too, people became sick as a result of the Probo Koala, the UN investigator says.

Lack of cooperation

Martyn Day, the British lawyer who is representing 26,000 Ivory Coast victims in a civil case in London, puts this last comment in context, saying between twenty and thirty people in Amsterdam were sick for a couple of days. The environmental organisation Greenpeace, however, puts the number closer to sixty. The local health department has no record of any sickness connected with the ship.

Ibeanu criticises the Dutch government for being less than forthcoming in terms of providing information. “Cooperation up to now has not been enthusiastic,” he says, adding that a delegation from the transport ministry had been “reluctant” to meet him. The environment ministry did send him information - in Dutch.

Parliament said it was appalled by the government’s lack of cooperation and has urged all the relevant ministries to provide the UN investigator with all the information he needs.

Parliament is doing what it should do, says Greenpeace campaigner Marietta Harjono, but the same cannot be said of the cabinet. “It’s scandalous that the Netherlands seems more concerned about the country’s image than about finding out the truth,” she says.

Scandalous

Another question which remains unanswered is whether it was in fact the Probo Koala’s cargo that caused the deaths and sickness in Ivory Coast. Scientists do not agree on the toxicity of the waste material that was off-loaded. But that debate should be left to the experts, Ibeanu says. “We simply don’t know what harm a cocktail of chemicals can do.”

On the other hand, he says, it is too much of a coincidence that thousands of people in Ivory Coast have suffered eye problems, bloody noses and nausea since the Probo Koala dumped its load.

Ibeanu visited Ivory Coast to have a look at the damage for himself. Unlike the Dutch, the authorities there were, he says, very cooperative. “Some areas are still extremely polluted,” he says. To prevent the dumping of this sort of waste in the future, Ibeanu proposes setting up an international body to look at issues relating to development aid, trade and waste disposal. “I am trying to build a bridge between environmental issues and human rights,” he says.