Peru: Toxic discharges threaten the health of millions and right to safe drinking water, says UN exp
Peru: Toxic discharges threaten the health of millions and right to safe drinking water, says UN expert
15 December 2022
LIMA/GENEVA (15 December 2022) – “The government of Peru must address the poisoning of water. Toxic and heavy metals discharges are undermining the health and right to safe drinking water of ten million Peruvians and risking the health of future generations”, a UN expert said today.
The Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, made these observations at the end of a two-week visit to the country.
“My visit took place in a turbulent political context. I attempted to analyse the problems that hinder human rights to water and sanitation beyond the current situation.” According to the UN expert, these problems “are the result of decades of acts and omissions.”
Arrojo-Agudo welcomed the fact that the Peruvian Constitution recognises the priority of water for human consumption over any other use in accordance with international human rights standards. However, during his visit, he noted that this provision is often breached.
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“The traditional approach to water as mere productive resource needs to shift to a sustainable ecosystemic and human rights-based approach” said the UN expert.
More:
https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/12/peru-toxic-discharges-threaten-health-millions-and-right-safe-drinking-water
What an abominable shame. Mining companies have owned Peru for ages, and to hell with the poor people who must work in them, or live anywhere near them. Monstrous.
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Poisoned city sues Peru at Inter-American Court over human rights violations
The remote mountain city of La Oroya has suffered decades of toxic metal contamination, and residents blame the Peruvian government for failing to protect them.
JAMES FRANCIS WHITEHEAD / October 14, 2022
The railway station at La Oroya, Peru. (Maurice Chédel/Wikipedia via Courthouse News)
(CN) — Residents of the Andean city of La Oroya told the Inter-American Court of Human Rights this week of how decades of toxic contamination by a mining company have led to life-changing health implications and environmental damage.
They accuse Peru of human rights violations by failing in its obligations to regulate and control the toxic emissions of Doe Run Peru, which operated a metallurgical complex between 1997 and 2009.
Doe Run Peru was a subsidiary of Missouri-based Doe Run Company until 2007 but is now an independent Peruvian company.
The 30,000 inhabitants of La Oroya are tucked away high in the Andes 110 miles east of Lima. Its ash-colored mountain slopes are a visual reminder of the environmental damage caused by the smelting of heavy metals — mostly lead, zinc, and copper — that are carried in the veins of residents in one of the most polluted cities in the world.
Blood analysis found that 90% of the residents had blood lead levels that far exceeded standards deemed dangerous set by the World Health Organization. Those living in the area are more likely to develop a broad range of health problems such as anemia, skin disorders, kidney failure, infertility, lung and heart disease and cancer — with vulnerable groups like children and the elderly hit hardest.
More:
https://www.courthousenews.com/poisoned-peruvian-city-brings-case-against-the-state-for-human-rights-violations-to-the-inter-american-court/
Video showing info. on Doe Run, owned, controlled until recently by a U.S. American, Ira Rennert. It will tell you a lot US citizens simply never knew about the kind of companies US business people operate in "America's backyard." It's worth spending 10 minutes. More info. can be found, and photos any time one looks for it on "the system of tubes.".
(It was finally discovered by outsiders that the company would wait until well after dark and then dump all kinds of poisonous chemicals into the small river which runs past it in the valley. Also, the valley traps unbreathable air inside it where the workers are, and their homes. People's lifetimes are much shorter, and they learned pets don't last long if they try to buy fur friends for their children. )