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Amnesty International
Ivoorkust
Côte dIvoire: Authorities must ensure toxic waste compensation reaches
victims
5 november 2009 Amnesty International today urged the authorities
in Côte dIvoire to ensure that $45 million compensation paid by the
oil trading company Trafigura to victims of one of the worst toxic
dumping scandals in recent years reaches the people to whom it is
owed.
The compensation was agreed in the context of a court action brought
by some 30,000 people against Trafigura in the High Court of England
and Wales.
The organization has also written to UK Justice Secretary Jack Straw,
urgently asking him to contact his counterpart in the Côte dIvoire and
press for swift action to prevent a potentially massive fraud being
perpetrated.
The call came as thousands of the victims of the illegal dumping of
toxic waste in Abidjan, the capital of Côte dIvoire, wait anxiously to
receive their money.
There is a real risk that the victims of this waste dumping will never
see the compensation they have been waiting so long to receive, said
Widney Brown, Senior Director at Amnesty International.
The governments of Côte dIvoire and the UK must do everything in their
power to ensure that this money is paid to the claimants listed in the
court order and prevent its misappropriation by corrupt figures.
The $45 million compensation has been frozen in the bank account of
the law firm representing the victims in the court case against
Trafigura, the company accused of dumping the waste.
The freezing order was made after a man claiming his organization the
National Coordination of Toxic Waste Victims of Côte dIvoire
(CNVDT-CI) represents the real victims said the money should be
transferred into that organizations bank account instead. This claim
appears entirely false and has been refuted by the victims UK lawyers,
as well as in a petition that is before the Ivorian courts by the
other representatives of claimants in the UK court case.
The CNVDT-CI appears nowhere in any court documents related to the
case or the settlement.
On 23 September, the High Court of England and Wales approved a
settlement agreement between the victims of the toxic waste dumping,
UK law firm Leigh Day & Co, and Trafigura. The agreement was that $45
million would be distributed by Leigh Day to the nearly 30,000 victims
who had agreed to the deal, with each receiving about $1,600. The
funds were transferred to an account in Côte dIvoire set up by Leigh
Day for distribution to the victims.
On 22 October, Claude Gohourou, who claims his organization represents
the victims, applied to a court in Abidjan to have the funds in the
Leigh Day account frozen, which the court agreed to. Soon after, on 27
October, he applied for the money to be transferred to an account held
by his own association.
Tomorrow, the Abidjan court is due to rule on his application.
If the court in Côte dIvoire transfers the money into Mr Gohourous
account, there is a very good chance that it will never be seen again,
said Widney Brown.
We need an urgent intervention to prevent the victims of this tragic
case from a double disaster. To have fought for three years for some
measure of compensation for the terrible events of 2006, and then to
see it stolen would be a travesty.
Achtergrondinformatie
In August 2006, toxic waste was brought to Abidjan in Côte dIvoire on
board the ship Probo Koala, which had been chartered by Trafigura.
This waste was then dumped in various locations around the city,
causing a human rights tragedy. More than 100,000 people sought
medical attention for a range of health problems and there were 15
reported deaths.
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