"Activists dismiss Formosa claim of fulfilled obligations regarding spill in Vietnam", 15 October 2024

Activists have rejected a claim by Taiwan’s Formosa Group that it has fulfilled all of its obligations related to a devastating chemical spill in 2016 at one of its plants in Vietnam, saying the company has failed to pay victims adequate compensation and prove that it is no longer damaging the environment.

An April 2016 spill at the Taiwan-owned Formosa Plastics Group steel plant polluted more than 200 kilometers (125 miles) of coastline, killed an estimated 115 tons of fish, and left tourism industry workers and fishermen jobless in four central provinces...

In May this year, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights sent a letter to Vietnam’s government and Formosa regarding the “alleged prolonged adverse human rights impacts of the release of hazardous substances in 2016” by the latter and highlighting “the continued lack of access to effective remedy by those affected by the toxic discharge.”...

In a response...Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corporation – Formosa’s subsidiary whose plant was responsible for the spill – informed the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights that the matter was closed.

Formosa noted that after admitting responsibility, it had paid US$500 million in August 2016, which the Vietnamese government used “to compensate the affected individuals for their personal and property losses and loss of work, and to implement various measures to restore livelihoods, safeguard their health, and rehabilitate marine ecology.”

Formosa called the disaster “an isolated environmental accident” and claimed that its... subsidiary is “currently operating in compliance with various laws and regulations of the Vietnamese government.”..

Activists and residents of areas affected by the spill dismissed Formosa’s claims, telling ... that the compensation it paid was inadequate and pointing out that there has been no independent investigation into the impact of its steel plant’s emissions and waste on the environment....