Title: Diapositiva 1
1FLARE Programme Bari, March 11th 16th, 2008
Case study
Illegal Dumping of Toxic Waste in Somalia
We perfectly know that the illegal dumping of
toxic and dangerous waste is nowadays held by
organized crime. Legal dumping in industrialized
countries costs 250 per ton, in Somalia just
2,5 . We know that ships reach the
Somaliland sea and here they discharge toxic and
dangerous waste. There is no control over the
companies charged with the legal dumping of
dangerous waste they often deliver their waste
to other without scruple companies. Its easy for
them to face with corrupted or inexistent
governments like the one of Somalia, a country
where anarchy reigns since 1992. Declaration of
an anonymous officer of UNEP (UN Environmental
Program)
2FLARE Programme Bari, March 11th 16th, 2008
The Achair Partners Case
- In august 1992 Mustafa Tolba, executive director
of the Unep, declares that Italian companies are
dumping toxic waste in Somalia. - In 1997 the Unep started to investigate the
matter the outcome of the investigation is the
Qayad report. - In May 1991 two members of the Ali Mahdi clan
stipulate a contract with some Italian companies
they will pay for medicines to be sent in
Somalia. - They are unable to pay their debt the Swiss
company Achair Partners, in cooperation with
the Italian company Progresso srl, accepts to pay
the debt in exchange for a permission to dump
dangerous waste in Somalia. The company will also
provide the Aidid clan with weapons. - On December, 5th 1991 Achair Partners and
Progresso are authorized by senior local
politicians to build a 10 million ton storage
facility for hazardous waste.
3 - We found a lot of cases of blindness between
animals. Sometimes you can even fish with your
own hands fishes simply do not run away. - Between the fishermen the number of liver
diseases is increasing constantly (Abdi Nur,
Somali Seafish Company) - Pirko Heinnonen, doctor of the Unicef, said us
that in Bardale (in the west of Baidoa) a new
unknown epidemic was spreading At least 120
deaths in two months. Symptoms are high fever,
shiver, haemorrhages. - We collected a lot of proofs of the illegal
dumping of dangerous waste in the city of
Jamama, in Merka, between Merka and Mogadishu, in
Uarsciek (where toxic waste were burned out in
1992), along the road between Garoowe and
Boosaaso. (Journalistic inquiry, Famiglia
Cristiana)
Where
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5FLARE Programme Bari, March 11th 16th, 2008
When and Who
- Ilaria told me that she had discovered that
toxic waste had been dumped on the Somaliland
coast. I told her that from 1988 we had no
coastguard, and that I had heard that along a
great part of the Somaliland coast tanks with
unknown contents had been buried. I also told her
that new diseases had appeared in Somalia. - (Faduma Mohammed Mamud, daughter of Mogadishus
mayor) - Ilaria Alpi was in Boosaaso between 16 and 20
March 1994 she visited the Garooe-Boosaaso road
(where hazardous waste had been buried), she
collected proofs about the weapon and waste
traffic made with the ships of the Shifco Company
(whose chief is Omar Said Mugne), she
investigated the ambiguous traffics of
Abdullahy Mussa Bogor, the local Sultan.
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7FLARE Programme Bari, March 11th 16th, 2008
References
Giorgio e Luciana Alpi, Mariangela Gritta
Grainer, Maurizio Torrealta, Lesecuzione
Inchiesta sulluccisione di Ilaria Alpi e Miran
Hrovatin, Kaos Edizioni, Milano 1999 Barbara
Carazzolo, Luciano Scalettari, Alberto Chiara,
Ilaria Alpi un omicidio al crocevia dei
traffici, Baldini e Castoldi, Milano
2002 www.unep.org www.basel.int www.sanpaolo.org/
fc/
8FLARE Programme Bari, March 11th 16th, 2008
National legislative tools for eco-crimes fight
- The Basel Convention
- The Basel Convention on the Control of
Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and
their Disposal is the most comprehensive global
environmental treaty on hazardous and other
wastes. - The Convention has 170 members (Parties).
- Each Party is required to introduce appropriate
national or domestic legislation to prevent and
punish illegal traffic in hazardous and other
wastes. Illegal traffic is criminal. - Parties are expected to minimize the quantities
that are moved across borders and to prevent or
minimize the generation of wastes at source. - The Italian Legislation
- Illegal traffic of hazardous waste is punished
with a maximum of 6 years reclusion.