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.