For an example of an international business deal that went wrong, consider the case of the uncontrolled dumping in 2006 of hundreds of tonnes of highly toxic oil waste around Abidjan, capital of Ivory Coast. The disaster appears to have been caused by oil traders’ search for profit at all costs. Traders at Trafigura, the London-based oil trader, hoped to make large profits by buying up cargoes of sulphur-contaminated Mexican gasoline. The fuel was processed on board a tanker anchored off Gibraltar, in spite of the process being banned in Western countries. As a result, toxic waste ‘slops’ were created.

The tanker finally sailed to Ivory Coast for the waste to be dumped by a local contractor who hired a tanker truck to take away the black slurry and dump it in landfill sites all around Abidjan. According to a report in the Guardian newspaper (17 September 2009, 1), those living and working nearby subsequently suffered respiratory and eye problems, nose-bleeding, nausea, diarrhoea, loss of consciousness and death.

Thousands of people were forced to leave their homes. Autopsy reports appeared to show fatal levels of the poisonous gas hydrogen sulphide, one of the waste’s lethal by-products.

Trafigura issued statements saying that victims’ claims to have been poisoned were imaginary, and a Trafigura director told BBC Newsnight that his firm’s waste was ‘absolutely not dangerous to human beings.’ However, a UN human rights special rapporteur reported that according to official estimates there were 15 deaths, 69 persons hospitalized and more than 108,000 medical consultations. He believed there was strong evidence that the reported deaths and adverse health consequences were related to the dumping.

For three years the company insisted that its waste was not dangerous. However, in September 2009 it finally agreed to pay compensation to 31,000 victims when emails came to light that showed that it was fully aware from the outset. Lawyers representing 31,000 people against Trafigura reached a settlement for a reported £28 million, which means that each person should receive about £950.

1 Who should be held accountable for such abuses? The company? The Ivory Coast government? Both? Neither?
2 If there had been in existence a clear code of conduct relating to ethical international business practices would that have prevented the disaster? If not, why not?