People in the affected area in Arica have painted a mural on the wall surrounding the toxic waste from Boliden.Women in Arica, affected by the Boliden waste, have made a beautiful film…
Toxic justice
toxicjustice.org is an open source archive inspired by the films Toxic Playground and Arica.
The court case
Arica Victims v Boliden was a lawsuit in which the limited partnership Arica Victims represented 796 Chilean citizens who were injured by the wetland sludge from Rönnskärsverken in Sweden containing high levels of arsenic, shipped by Boliden to Arica, Chile, during 1984-1985.
The District Court chose to apply Chilean law in the case, but did not find that the plaintiffs showed sufficient evidence to connect the injuries with the waste from Sweden.
The case went to the Swedish Court of appeal, who decided that Swedish law should be applied, meaning that the injuries, having occurred more than 10 years after the initial incident, could not be tried under Swedish Law.
In 2021, a group of UN experts examined the case, and wrote to the Swedish and Chilean governments, along with the managing director of Boliden, asking them to resolve the ongoing ‘violations of human rights’ in Arica.
Court decisions
UN
Background
In 1984, the Swedish mining company Boliden had toxic waste shipped to Chile, where it was supposed to be properly processed. In reality, some of the waste was dumped on the outskirts of the desert town of Arica. The consequences were severe: in the years that followed, residents developed cancer and many babies were born with birth defects.
The film
Filmmakers William Johansson Kalen and Lars Edman have covered the case since their first film Boliden (2010). In their following film Arica (2020) we get an insight look inside the powerful case brought upon the mining company responsible.Filmmakers William Johansson Kalen and Lars Edman have covered the case since their first film Boliden (2010). In their following film Arica (2020) we get an insight look inside the powerful case brought upon the mining company responsible.Filmmakers William Johansson Kalen and Lars Edman have covered the case since their first film Boliden (2010). In their following film Arica (2020) we get an insight look inside the powerful case brought upon the mining company responsible.
Filmmakers William Johansson Kalen and Lars Edman have covered the case since their first film Boliden (2010). In their following film Arica (2020) we get an insight look inside the powerful case brought upon the mining company responsible.
Read more at www.aricafilm.com
Community
In a note to the film team the Embassy states: ”The Embassy of Chile recognizes the importance of responsible handling of toxic substances and the consequences for humans, the subject of the…
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UN letters include harsh criticism of Swedish government and Boliden mining company Over 30 years after Swedish mining company Boliden shipped almost 20,000 tonnes of toxic mining waste to the Chilean city…
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Professor Jonas Ebbesson, member of the Arica Victims’ legal team in the trial vs Boliden Mineral, writes an Opinion Editorial in Dagens Nyheter, the most significant newspaper in Sweden. Referring to international law,…
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They’re Everywhere! Big Companies in Legal Scrapes Turn to Science-for-Hire Giant Exponent The Fall of Icarus is the Greek myth about a youth who gets a pair of wax-and-feather wings but soars…
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In a class action-lawsuit against Boliden, the Skellefteå district court ruled in favor of the mining company. 796 victims from Arica in Chile, sued the Swedish mining company for more than 100…
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Documentary maker William Johansson Kalén is upset about Bolidens complaints against the lawyers of Arica Victims. The documentary Arica recently premiered and the film deals with the lawsuit following Bolidens dumping of…
MoreStatements
UN letters include harsh criticism of Swedish government and Boliden mining company Over 30 years after Swedish mining company Boliden shipped almost 20,000 tonnes of toxic mining waste to the Chilean city…
Minister of Foreign Affairs – Anna Lindh Response to written question from Eva Zetterberg (v) June 30th 2000 Eva Zetterberg has asked me, referring to the health problems affecting the population in…
With nearly 100 countries on board, an international agreement which bans the exporting of toxic waste from developed to developing countries has entered into force. While this landmark move will help protect…
The Court of Appeal for northern Norrland announced on March 27th the ruling in the case about Boliden’s deliveries to Arica, Chile in the mid 1980’s. The court found, like the district…
The tide is turning against the global toxic waste trade, as an appeal court in Sweden considers the plight of nearly 12,000 victims. The Swedish mining conglomerate Boliden began shipping toxic waste…
Sweden changes position in Arica case
In a debate in Swedish Parliament, the Swedish Minister of Environment suddenly changed the Swedish position towards supporting Chile in cleaning up the contaminated areas in Arica, Chile. In a non-scripted part of the discussion Bolund says: ”We have a lot of clean up work to do for our own part, and we spend much resources on that. This means that are we also developing techniques and solutions, and here we are of course willing to support Chile if such support is asked for. We have not received any request from Chile for Swedish support. I also want to make clear…
The Chilean Senate demands that the toxic waste in Arica is returned to Sweden. (Spanish and Swedish)
The Senate demands that President Sebastián Piñera instruct the Ministry for Foreign Affairs to ask the Swedish government to take back toxic waste from the Scandinavian country that is currently located in Arica. Between 1984 and 1985, the Swedish company Boliden Mineral AB transported the equivalent of 19,139 tonnes of mining waste with high levels of cadmium, mercury, lead, arsenic and other heavy metals, from Sweden to the city of Arica. These imports were made through Computador Metalúrgica (Promel) Ltda, a company that would process this material to extract gold, silver and arsenic, even though they were not able to…
“Reasonable doubt” for sale – about Boliden and dubious experts
They defend toxic emissions in the rainforest, have questioned the benefits of seat belts and deny that passive smoking causes cancer. Exponent, the American consulting company that Boliden hired to defend itself against accusations of having poisoned people in Arica in northern Chile, often presents controversial research results. Exponent is sometimes called the research world’s mercenaries and is considered to specialize in producing so-called “doubt science”, intended to be used in trials to cast doubt on established research. As a journalist, I have for a long time covered trials of various kinds. Some of them have been about disputes related…
Smoking, asbestos, arsenic and Agent Orange – Don’t worry! No danger! Says Exponent, the science for hire consultants – read the 2016 investigative article by Fair Warning’s Paul Feldman.
They’re Everywhere! Big Companies in Legal Scrapes Turn to Science-for-Hire Giant Exponent The Fall of Icarus is the Greek myth about a youth who gets a pair of wax-and-feather wings but soars too close to the sun–melting the wings and casting him into the sea. In the 1990s, a consulting firm called Failure Analysis Associates ran tongue-in-cheek ads aimed at corporate lawyers that retold the myth as a courtroom drama. The arty-looking promos boasted that Failure’s expert testimony in “Icarus vs. Wax Aviation” would put the onus on pilot error, getting the company off the hook. The formula has turned…
Acclaimed ‘Arica’ documentary prompts intervention from United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC)
UN letters include harsh criticism of Swedish government and Boliden mining company Over 30 years after Swedish mining company Boliden shipped almost 20,000 tonnes of toxic mining waste to the Chilean city of Arica, a group of United Nations Special Rapporteurs have made allegations of serious ongoing human rights abuses, exposed in the ARICA documentary, which continues it’s festival run with screenings in Spain, Czech Republic, Italy and Belgium in the coming weeks. Exposure to the waste led to numerous cases of cancer, birth defects and serious diseases, with the Chilean government estimating that around 12,000 people were exposed to…
Science for hire – Boliden’s controversial consultants
Swedish law magazine Dagens Juridik (Law Today) publishes a feature report about Boliden’s controversial consultants and the ”science for hire”-firm Exponent. …
Response to written question from Eva Zetterberg (v)
Minister of Foreign Affairs – Anna Lindh Response to written question from Eva Zetterberg (v) June 30th 2000 Eva Zetterberg has asked me, referring to the health problems affecting the population in northern Chile due to hazardous waste, what measures the Swedish Government has taken to ensure that Swedish companies, whose activities have harmed people and/or nature outside Sweden, do take their responsibilities and help solve the problems that have emerged. Let me first say, that the Swedish Government is deeply concerned and uneasy about the health problems affecting the population of Arica in northern Chile and that all involved…
Professor Jonas Ebbesson urges Swedish gov to return Boliden’s waste to Sweden
Professor Jonas Ebbesson, member of the Arica Victims’ legal team in the trial vs Boliden Mineral, writes an Opinion Editorial in Dagens Nyheter, the most significant newspaper in Sweden. Referring to international law, Ebbesson says Sweden has an obligation to involve to resolve the situation. The article is in Swedish and behind a paywall, but will soon be available in English and Spanish.https://www.dn.se/debatt/regeringen-duckar-for-sitt-ansvar-for-giftskandalen-i-chile/…
Boliden threatens Arica lawyers with individual lawsuits
This week, the film about the victims of the toxic waste scandal in Chilean Arica premiered in Amsterdam. At the same time, Boliden sent a letter to the Arica lawyers stating that the Swedish lawyers themselves may be sued for the legal costs of more than 40 million Swedish crowns. It is through the documentary that SVT initially received the information that Boliden had threatened to sue the Arica side’s lawyers. – They report that they have not been reimbursed for legal costs, just over 40 million crowns, and that they reserve the right to make claims for damages corresponding…
The film maker: “I believe Boliden does this to intimidate others”
Documentary maker William Johansson Kalén is upset about Bolidens complaints against the lawyers of Arica Victims. The documentary Arica recently premiered and the film deals with the lawsuit following Bolidens dumping of arsenic dust in the Chilean town Arica in the 1980’s. One of the filmmakers, William Johansson Kalén, claims Boliden has gone after the lawyers of the Arica-side and that this could have major consequences. – You don’t come across these kinds of cases very often and it’s an incredible sacrifice the lawyers make by taking them on the terms that if win, they get paid and otherwise they…
The Chilean Embassy in The Netherlands welcomes the film ARICA
In a note to the film team the Embassy states: ”The Embassy of Chile recognizes the importance of responsible handling of toxic substances and the consequences for humans, the subject of the documentary, and we deeply value that this production serves to raise awareness and prevent similar situations in other places in the world. ”…
Boliden’s toxic waste in Arica – now on the Environmental Justice Atlas
The Chilean town Arica has since the 80’s been polluted by chemicals like lead, arsenic and mercury. This has led to death and sickness in the community. Now the Environmental Justice Atlas has placed the town on its list of ecological conflicts around the world. – I believe the Arica community will be greatly favored to assume a greater position of commitment to the community directly affected by pollution, says community leader Rodrigo Pino Vargas. Environmental Justice Atlas, also referred to as EJ Atlas, is a website that documents and catalogues social conflict around environmental issues. They aim to make mobilization…
Swedish mining company Boliden wins groundbreaking damage case against 796 plaintiffs from Chile.
In a class action-lawsuit against Boliden, the Skellefteå district court ruled in favor of the mining company. 796 victims from Arica in Chile, sued the Swedish mining company for more than 100 million Swedish crowns. The plaintiffs have all been tested with high levels of arsenic in their urine, Arsenic they claim originates from 20.000 tons of toxic waste from Boliden that was left outside their community in the mid-80’s. The Swedish district court ruled in favor for the mining company Boliden, who sent 20.000 tons of toxic waste to northern Chile. The waste containing hazardous chemicals like arsenic, lead…
Arica Victims denied damages in the Swedish Court of Appeal
769 Chileans sued the Swedish mining company Boliden for the toxic waste that left outside the town Arica. The sludge was polluted with chemicals like arsenic, lead and mercury. The Swedish Court of Appeal decided to apply Swedish law, whereby the plaintiffs’ claims were time barred. The plaintiffs from Arica claim that they have been seriously affected by the toxic chemicals. They have all been tested with more than 30 micrograms of arsenic per liter urine. The toxic waste originates from the Swedish town Skellefteå, and the Boliden plant Rönnskär. In the 1980’s Boliden exported 20.000 tons of waste sludge,…
Shutting down a toxic trade
With nearly 100 countries on board, an international agreement which bans the exporting of toxic waste from developed to developing countries has entered into force. While this landmark move will help protect the environment and ensure that poor countries do not become dumping grounds for the rich, the absence of dozens of countries from the deal undermines its effectiveness. Today, 5 December 2019, 97 countries have prohibited the movement of toxic waste from developed to developing countries. Although it comes a quarter of a century after it was first envisaged, the entry into force of the 1995 Ban Amendment to…
Information regarding deliveries to Arica more than 30 years ago
The Court of Appeal for northern Norrland announced on March 27th the ruling in the case about Boliden’s deliveries to Arica, Chile in the mid 1980’s. The court found, like the district Court in Skellefteå, that Boliden wasn’t liable for damages. Bolidens assessment, which is supported by the district Court’s ruling, is that the deliveries were safeguarded by meticulous work and were done in accordance with Swedish agencies and by permission from Chilean agencies. Boliden – a player in the global metal industry Metal companies processes a bunch of different metals and other compounds which in many cases are both…
Swedish firm exported toxic waste to Chile
The tide is turning against the global toxic waste trade, as an appeal court in Sweden considers the plight of nearly 12,000 victims. The Swedish mining conglomerate Boliden began shipping toxic waste from its Rönnskärs smelter to my home town, Arica, in northern Chile in the mid-1980s, when we lived under the rule of general Augusto Pinochet. Boliden could have chosen to store the material in Sweden, and they claim that it would have been cheaper for them to do so. Instead, they shipped it halfway around the world in a deal with the now defunct Chilean mining company Promel S.A.…
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