space Basel Action News, Vol 1, #1

by ALEX BEACHAMPS, Executive Secretary of COHPEDA

In the mid-1980s, the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was confronted with the problem of eliminating 250,000 tons of toxic ash produced by the municipal incinerator and signed an agreement with the Paolina & Sons management company. In December, 1987, the ship Khian Sea, after spending 27 months at sea searching for a willing host country, dumped 4,000 of the 15,000 tons of ashes it was carrying on a beach in the Gonaives, Haiti.

In January, 1988, Greenpeace and Haitian environmental associations began to mobilize around the problem. But the Khian Sea ran off in the middle of the night, leaving its toxic load behind.

At the start of the 1990s, and thanks to pressure from popular mobilizations, the then Haitian government had no choice but to transport part of the waste to an open pool located on a hill 4 kilometers to the north of the Gonaives.

In May, 1992, Greenpeace and the Haiti Communication Project met the representatives of Ed Rendel, the mayor of Philadelphia. An agreement was reached on the return of the toxic ash to Philadelphia.

\On July 14, 1992, the US Department of Justice indicted two American citizens, John Dowd and William F. Reilly, of Amalgamated Shipping Corporation and Coastal Carrier Corporation, respectively, for transporting and dumping ashes from the Philadelphia incinerator. "Obviously, these two criminals are not being prosecuted for dumping their toxic load into the sea nor for illegally labeling it as fertilizer and abandoning it on the beaches of Haiti, but for lying to the jury that decided to indict them," Ann Leonard of Greenpeace stated at the time.

On October 4, 1993, Dowd and Reilly were found guilty of dumping ashes into the Indian Ocean. They were sentenced to prison and a fine. There was no conviction for the dumping in Haiti.

On March 31, 1995, on the initiative of Haitian environmental associations - COHPEDA, FAN, FREN, Justice et Paix Gonaives - plus the Haiti Communication Project and Greenpeace Washington, a petition signed by 45 Haitian civilian organizations was presented to president Clinton, who was traveling in Haiti, asking him to use the huge resources of the US military forces stationed in Haiti to repatriate the toxic ashes. The signatories included the current prime minister of Haiti, Rosny Smith, and the current ministers for agriculture and justice, Gerald Mathurin and Pierre-Max Antoine, who at the time were not members of the government.

On October 15, 1995, the minister for the environment, Yves André, asked US vice-president Al Gore to make the federal government aware of the situation in order to facilitate legal action against the ship's captain and to force the city of Philadelphia to take the steps necessary for the return of the waste.

The Impact of the Waste on the Population

Various analyses conducted by Greenpeace and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) showed that highly toxic substances were present in the waste, such as dioxins, as well as heavy metals such as lead, copper, zinc, cadmium, cobalt, magnesium, mercury, antimony and chromium. Greenpeace reported that although the tests detected dangerous levels of lead, cadmium and dioxins, the US government refused to guarantee the clearing up of the waste in Haiti. The consequences are already being felt. The journalist Herby Dalencourt reported that his cousin, Smith Joseph, who had been hired by the public works ministry to transport the waste, died as a result. "My cousin had skin lesions and visual problems. The workers hired at the time had no gloves, masks or boots", he said. Members of popular organizations of the Gonaives reported that they saw the outbreak of new diseases in the population, such as skin disorders, stomach problems, etc. People living near the pool complained of cattle dying after eating the grass growing near the pool. Haitian environmental experts indicated that there were possibilities that those substances could have leeched into the groundwater, owing to the unreliable construction, in 1989, of the pool.

The Current Situation

Many people have been mobilized around the problem of returning the 4,000 tons of toxic waste to Philadelphia and cleaning the contaminated site in the wake of a virulent campaign launched on June 5, 1997, by the COHPEDA and the ROCAHD (Regroupement des Organismes Haitians pour le Développement) that featured an assembly to mark the tenth anniversary of the dumping of the waste in December, 1997.

The Means Used

1. Publicity spots, broadcasts and press conferences in the media
2. 12,000 postcards were sent to the president of the republic, the environment minister and to members of parliament, with the assistance of international organizations such as Friends of the Earth International, which has 56 member countries, the Caribbean Conservation Association, the Multinationals Resource Center (USA) and various Catholic church organizations.
3. A documentary video on the subject.
4. Conferences, debates, etc.

The results achieved

1. Greater awareness in the population
2. Meetings with the environment minister for exchanges of views and discussion
3. Several reconnaissance visits to the dump site by representatives of the Haitian government
4. The spokeswoman of the US Embassy, Mrs Hellen Gillroyd, stated on October 23, 1997, that the US government would be willing to help in the cleaning up of the waste if the Haitian government were to make an official request.

The Outlook

The extensive mobilization of the Haitian population apparently seeks to spur the authorities into action. Haiti's 1987 constitution prohibits the entry in the country of waste of any kind. The government has signed the Basel Convention and the city of Philadelphia has given the go-ahead for the return of the waste. There have been earlier cases of a return of waste to the home country in the wake of action taken by people in Columbia, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Egypt, and others.

This campaign is being conducted in order to force the authorities to take the necessary measures for the return of the toxic ashes of the Gonaives to the city of Philadelphia.