The city of Amsterdam must face full responsibility for failing to supervise a ship that later dumped toxic waste in the economic capital of the Ivory Coast, the Dutch supreme court ruled on Wednesday. Over 30,000 Ivorians have claimed injuries that ranged from mild headaches to severe burns of skin and lungs, miscarriages and untimely deaths.

"The Supreme Court refers the case back to the Amsterdam district court [...] to be considered anew," said the judgment, overturning earlier decisions to dismiss the case against the city.
 

In August 2006, the Probo Koala ship, chartered by Dutch-based multinational oil trading firm Trafigura, dumped deadly caustic soda and petroleum residues on city waste tips in Abidjan, the main city in the Ivory Coast. Part of the cargo was initially accepted for processing by Amsterdam Port Services but the company then decided not to accept the waste and pumped it back into the ship's hold.
 

Amsterdam Port Services, the Probo Koala's captain and the cargo ship's owner, the Trafigura company, also face prosecution for allegedly breaching local laws governing waste export.
 

Dutch prosecutors have sought to hold the city of Amsterdam responsible for "ridding itself" of what turned out to be dangerous waste being offloaded from the Probo Koala in Amsterdam - by ordering that it be pumped back into the ship to be taken elsewhere.

Allegations denied
Trafigura, one of the world's biggest commodities traders with offices in Geneva, Amsterdam and London, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in relation to the 2006 incident. Moreover, the oil trader has become notorious for their legal attempts to suppress reporting by the BBC.
 

Following a London High Court ruling last September 2009, the company had further insisted that the lawyers of the victims admitted there is no proof of a link between the dumpings and untimely deaths, miscarriages and other serious injuries in Abidjan. Their claims were endorsed by the analyses of 20 independent experts in consideration of the 2006 incident.
 

But a United Nations report published that month found "strong" evidence linking at least 15 deaths and several hospitalisations to pollution from the ship.

Pay out
The company agreed in 2007 to a $198 million out-of-court settlement with the Ivory Coast government, which subsequently exempts it from legal proceedings in that country. It said it had made the payment because of its concern over the fate of the Ivorians.
 

But environmental group Greenpeace, which in September 2009 asked a Dutch court to order prosecutors to further their investigation beyond the Netherlands, has rejected the settlement. A spokesperson had said: "Money cannot buy justice".