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Amnesty international and greenpeace netherlands
Chapter 14
The states involved, notably the Netherlands and Côte d’Ivoire, but also others, failed not just in preventing the illegal transboundary movement and dumping of toxic waste, in regulating a multinational company to ensure that it did not abuse these international standards, but they also failed collectively to provide an effective remedy to the victims whose human rights were abused by Trafigura. The abuses were transnational but the remedies were not and as the previous chapters illustrate, the victims and groups working on behalf of the victims have had to go from pillar to post in Côte d’Ivoire, in the Netherlands, in the UK, in France, and even before the European Commission seeking justice and effective remedies. What they have faced are multiple barriers to remedies, piecemeal processes which only look at part of the story and which place the onus on victims to prove the abuses and to even enforce the remedies and claim the compensation that they were awarded. One might expect that, given the numerous opportunities to secure justice in more than one jurisdiction, the chances of the victims uncovering the truth and obtaining an effective remedy would have been greater. Yet the reality has been very different: despite the numerous efforts that were made, there has been a collective failure by all the states involved to ensure the right to an effective remedy for the victims. Under international law, as stated earlier, where an individual has suffered human rights violations at the hands of several states, he or she is entitled to a full remedy for all of the violations. So long as the right to an effective remedy remains unfulfilled in relation to an act for which a particular state is responsible, that state remains under the obligation to provide meaningful access to a procedure capable of providing an effective remedy.741 The Maastricht Principles clarify that “where the harm resulting from an alleged violation
has occurred on the territory of a State other than a State in which the harmful conduct took place, any State concerned must provide remedies to the victim”.742 They also state that to give effect to this obligation, states should: a) seek cooperation and assistance from other concerned States where necessary to ensure a remedy; b) ensure remedies are available for groups as well as individuals; c) ensure the participation of victims in the determination of appropriate remedies…”.743 It is not just the government of Côte d’Ivoire which has failed in its obligation to provide an effective remedy to people whose rights to health and work were abused by Trafigura as a consequence of the illegal dumping of toxic waste by its agent Tommy in Abidjan. The Netherlands, the UK and the European Commission have failed to provide meaningful access to the victims to a procedure that would be capable of providing them with an effective remedy. They have also failed to engage in international cooperation with Côte d’Ivoire and each other to ensure effective remedies for the victim, including through prosecution and a full investigation of the company for its illegal acts across multiple jurisdictions; compelling Trafigura to disclose the information that it holds on the content of the waste and the effects of exposure; ensuring that victims receive the compensation that they were awarded as part of settlements in Côte d’Ivoire and the UK; and ensuring monitoring and disclosure of any potential long-terms impacts of exposure to the waste. Failure to prosecute the company and to investigate the role played by members of the Trafigura corporate group Despite legal actions commencing in a number of jurisdictions, there was a total lack of coordination and international co-operation to prosecute those responsible for the criminal acts in Côte d’Ivoire. To some degree, these actions even appear to have played off against each other in discouraging prosecutions into