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A Toxic Legacy

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A Toxic Legacy A TOXIC LEGACY THE CASE FOR A MEDICAL STUDY OF THE LONG-TERM HEALTH IMPACTS OF THE TRAFIGURA TOXIC WASTE DUMPING Amnesty International is a global movement of more than 7 million people who campaign for a world where human rights are enjoyed by all. Our vision is for every person to enjoy all the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards. We are independent of any government, political ideology, economic interest or religion and are funded mainly by our membership and public donations. © Amnesty International 2018 Except where otherwise noted, content in this document is licensed under a Creative Commons (attribution, non-commercial, no derivatives, international 4.0) license. Cover photo: Maize growing next to one of the sites where toxic waste was dumped in August 2006, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode at the domestic waste dump at Akouédo, Abidjan (UNDAC site reference 1.1). July 2016 © Amnesty For more information please visit the permissions page on our website: www.amnesty.org International Where material is attributed to a copyright owner other than Amnesty International this material is not subject to the Creative Commons lisence. First published in 2018 by Amnesty International Ltd Peter Benson House, 1 Easton Street London WC1X ODW, UK Index: AFR 45/7594/2018 Original language: English amnesty.org CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4 METHODOLOGY 6 1. THE DUMPING OF THE TOXIC WASTE AND ITS IMPACT 7 1.1 THE DUMPING OF THE TOXIC WASTE 7 1.2 HEALTH IMPACT 8 1.3 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT 11 2. THE CASE FOR A LONG-TERM HEALTH STUDY 19 2.1 LEGACY OF FEAR 19 2.2 OBLIGATIONS UNDER INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW 22 3. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 25 3.1 CONCLUSION 25 3.2 RECOMMENDATIONS 25 A TOXIC LEGACY THE CASE FOR A MEDICAL STUDY OF THE LONG-TERM HEALTH IMPACTS OF THE TRAFIGURA TOXIC WASTE DUMPING Amnesty International 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY “We would like to know the contents of the waste and what degree of danger we are exposed to. … If someone is the victim of something, they have the right to know what the damage is and to know the health consequences in the short and long-term.” s)KUGNG-QPG6GCEJGT&LKDK8KNNCIG#DKFLCP,WN[ On 20 August 2006, the people of Abidjan in Côte in helping to address people’s fears about ongoing Fo+XQKTGYQMGVQƂPFVJCVHQWNUOGNNKPIVQZKEYCUVG EQPVCOKPCVKQPCVVJGFWORUKVGU JCFDGGPFWORGFCVOWNVKRNGNQECVKQPUCETQUUVJGKT EKV[6JGUOGNNGPIWNHGF#DKFLCP+PVJGFC[UCPF #PGSWCNN[KORQTVCPVsCPFNQPIQXGTFWGsUGEQPF YGGMUVJCVHQNNQYGFVJGFWORKPIVJQWUCPFUQH UVGRKUKFGPVKH[KPICPFCFFTGUUKPICP[NQPIVGTO RGQRNGUVTGCOGFKPVQVJGEKV[oUOGFKECNHCEKNKVKGU JGCNVJKORCEVU#HHGEVGFEQOOWPKVKGU#OPGUV[ 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