A court in Amsterdam, the Netherlands has fined multinational Trafigura one million euros for exporting dangerous chemical waste by ship to Ivory Coast in 2006, where it was dumped.

The Ukrainian captain of the ship was sentenced to a five-year suspended jail term. An employee of Trafigura was fined 25,000 euros. In a United Nations report on the case, the death of at least 15 Ivorians has been attributed to chemical poisoning by the waste. Ivorian authorities say thousands of people were poisoned.

The Trafigura-chartered ship loaded with chemicals arrived at the port of Amsterdam in July 2006 to offload caustic soda and petroleum wastage for treatment. The Amsterdam Port Services refused to treat the wastage at the price agreed, saying that it turned out to be far more toxic than had been assumed.

Probo Koala
The ship then sailed from the Dutch capital to the African country where the waste was dumped on tips in populated areas in and around the city of Abidjan.

The Amsterdam Port Services, as well as the Ukrainian captain of the ship, the Probo Koala, and the Trafigura company had been charged with offences against Dutch environment and waste export laws. They all pleaded not guilty. Amsterdam Port Services was not found guilty on any charge.

Victims
"It's a very good thing Trafigura has been proven guilty,” said Yao Pipira Denis, president of the National Federation of Victims of Toxic Waste in Ivory Coast. “This story has been going on for four years now. We are satisfied that - for the very first time - there is a jurisdiction."

"But it isn't a total satisfaction,” Mr Denis added. “One million euros is of course a symbolic amount of money. We are especially concerned about the victims. In addition to a fine we need a civil judgment that will compensate the victims of Probo Koala. Trafigura will appeal ten times, but Trafigura will always lose. They will have to repair the damage they caused to the victims of their toxic waste."