11 July 2018 — A letter addressed by the Special Rapporteur on Toxics to the U.N. Secretary General in connection with the situation faced by Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian (RAE) families displaced during the Kosovo conflict, whom the United Nations housed in camps constructed on lead-contaminated toxic wasteland between 1999 and…
Letter to Brazil regarding proposal to weaken protections from pesticides
Joint letter by the mandates of Special Rapporteurs on Toxics, Food, Environment, Health and Water & Sanitation. Concerns raised to the Government of Brazil concerning the Project of Law (PL),6.299/2002 which amends Law No. 7.802 of 11 July 1989, which would significantly weaken the criteria for approving the experimental and…
Vietnam, electronics industry worker conditions (2018)
Information received concerning the alleged exposure of female workers to hazardous substances and inadequate working conditions in two Samsung Electronics factories based in Vietnam and the alleged intimidation of advocates by Samsung Electronics and public authorities. Letter to Vietnam: Vietnam AL electronics workers 2018 Letter to Samsung Electronics Response from Vietnam:…
The rights of workers and toxic chemical exposure
The Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Hazardous Substances and Wastes report to the UN Human Rights Council in in September 2018 will focus on the rights of workers and toxic chemical exposure. According to the ILO, nearly two million workers per year – or three workers per minute –…
New briefing: Human rights due diligence in the chemical industry
This briefing provides a snapshot overview of allegations of human rights abuses brought against companies in the chemical industry. It was developed by the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre in collaboration with the UN Special Rapporteur on the implications for human rights of the environmentally sound management and disposal of hazardous…
Letter to U.S. Congress regarding Dr. Linda Birnbaum oversight hearings
Open letter to U.S. Congress 29 Jan 2018 A letter to the U.S. Congressional Committee on Sciences, Space and Technology was sent on 29 January 2018, addressed to the Hon. Representative Lamar Smith and Hon. Representative Andy Briggs, regarding their proposed oversight of Dr. Linda Birnbaum for an article published…
Denmark and Greenland, 2017
Report to be presented to UN Human Rights Council in September 2018 Key issues: Conduct of business outside Denmark & extraterritorial obligations, including pesticide exports and exports of end-of-life ships (shipbreaking); child rights and toxic chemicals, in particular endocrine disrupting chemicals; hazardous waste disposal by United States military in Greenland;…
Peruvian Amazon oil pollution (Peru, PlusPetrol – 2014, 2015, 2017)
The case concerns over 40 years of oil pollution and extensive oil contamination in indigenous territories, an area denominated as Lot 1-AB (currently known as Lot 192), and the failure of businesses and the Government of Peru to ensure remediation. The oil concession Lot 192 is located in the basins…