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UN expert calls for a global ban on mercury trade and use in small-scale gold mining

20 September 2022

GENEVA (20 September 2022) – A UN expert* today urged States to address human rights violations related to the use of mercury in small-scale gold mining and protect the environment by prohibiting its trade and use in such mining.

“In most parts of the world where mercury is used in small-scale gold mining, the human rights of miners, their families and communities, often living in abject poverty, are increasingly threatened by mercury contamination,” said Marcos Orellana, UN Special Rapporteur on toxics and human rights in a report presented to the Human Rights Council.

The expert said indigenous peoples are particularly affected by the destruction and pollution of their territories, deforestation, loss of biodiversity and contamination of their food sources. Children are also disproportionately impacted by the dangerous work in the mines, sexual exploitation, and slavery-like conditions.

Mercury is a highly toxic liquid metal that accumulates to dangerous levels in the food chain. Consumption of contaminated fish can cause neurological and behavioural disorders. Mercury can also pass through the placenta, increasing fetal risk of malformation and IQ loss. Mercury is persistent, generating contaminated sites for decades and centuries and affecting future generations.

“The use of mercury for small-scale gold mining is the main source of mercury pollution globally. The mercury trade is driven by the insatiable demand for gold in the financial and jewellery markets. Refineries purchase gold without adequate due diligence mechanisms to address human rights abuses,” Orellana said.

The Minamata Convention on Mercury is a robust agreement which aims to protect human health and the environment from emissions and releases of mercury.

Orellana said that despite its strengths, the Convention had shortcomings that limit its effectiveness in reducing and eliminating mercury use in small-scale gold mining. Thus, mercury releases and emissions from the small-scale gold mining sector have continued to increase, affecting the rights of vulnerable individuals, groups and peoples.

“In order to more effectively combat human rights violations related to the use of mercury in small-scale gold mining and protect the environment, States and the Convention should prohibit the use and trade of mercury in such mining. This will be an essential step towards strengthening other elements of the Convention and making them more effective,” the expert said.

ENDS

Marcos A. Orellana, the Special Rapporteur on toxics and human rights, was appointed by the Human Rights Council as of July 2020. Dr Orellana is an expert in international law and the law on human rights and the environment. His practice as legal advisor has included work with United Nations agencies, governments and non-governmental organizations, including on wastes and chemicals issues at the Basel and Minamata conventions, the UN Environment Assembly and the Human Rights Council. He has intervened in cases before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes and the World Trade Organization's Appellate Body. His practice in the climate space includes representing the eight-nations Independent Association of Latin America and the Caribbean in the negotiations of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, and serving as senior legal advisor to the Presidency of the 25th Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. He has extensive experience working with civil society around the world on issues concerning global environmental justice. He was the inaugural director of the Environment and Human Rights Division at Human Rights Watch. Previously he directed the trade and the human rights programs at the Center for International Environmental Law, and he co-chaired the UN Environment Program's civil society forum. He teaches International Environmental Law at the George Washington University School of Law and International Law at the American University Washington College of Law. Previously he has lectured in prominent universities around the world, including Melbourne, Pretoria, Geneva, and Guadalajara. He was a fellow at the University of Cambridge, visiting scholar with the Environmental Law Institute in Washington DC, and instructor professor of international law at the Universidad de Talca, Chile.

Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council's independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures' experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.

For more information and media requests, please contact Gotzon Onandia Zarrabe (gotzon.onandiazarrabe@un.org) or Sonia Cuesta (sonia.cuesta@un.org).

For media inquiries related to other UN independent experts please contact Renato Rosario De Souza renato.rosariodesouza@un.org or Dharisha Indraguptha (dharisha.indraguptha@un.org)

Follow news related to the UN's independent human rights experts on Twitter @UN_SPExperts

Follow news related to the Toxics and Human Rights mandate on Twitter @SRToxics

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UN expert calls for a global ban on mercury trade and use in small-scale gold mining

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