A Statement from the UN Special Rapporteur on Right to Food and the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Hazardous Substances and Waste
Delivered at Fourth Session of the International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM4)
Geneva, Switzerland — 28 September-2 October 2015
Highly hazardous pesticides (HHPs) continue to have detrimental impacts on internationally recognized human rights. Evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates the inability of States and businesses to ensure that HHPs will be used safely throughout their lifecycle. Among those at grave risk of becoming victims of HHPs are agricultural workers, children and low income and minority communities, especially in developing countries.
For example, dozens of children in a remote village were poisoned, and 24 children killed, by methyl parathion almost fifteen years ago. Like many other victims of HHPs, these victims and their families are still unable to realize their right to an effective remedy. Such tragedies involving HHPs are neither isolated nor unforeseeable, with harms irreversible.
The World Health Organization estimates that hundreds of thousands of people have died and millions of years of productivity are lost as a result of HHPs. The U.N. Environment Programme estimates that harms to health and ecosystems from the use of hazardous pesticides in sub-Saharan Africa costs the region more than it receives in Official Development Assistance. Yet, victims of HHPs are often unable to secure an effective remedy for human rights violations.
Human rights are underpinned by core principles, such as the accountability. The lack of accountability for the breadth of human rights impacts due to HHPs is of grave concern. Among the human rights impacted by HHPs are the right to life, the right to an effective remedy and the right to information, as well as the right to the highest attainable standard of health, the right to water and the right to food. International pesticide experts note that there is almost always a safer alternative to HHPs. The substitution of HHPs with safer alternatives is imperative to better protect, realize and respect human rights, including the right to food.
We are deeply concerned by the slow pace of a global transition away from these hazardous pesticides toward safer alternatives. Therefore, we call on ICCM4 participants to accelerate global action to substitute highly hazardous pesticides with safer alternatives. In addition to supporting the elements outlined in the joint proposal by FAO, UNEP and WHO, we recommend that:
(1) the process include a clear timeline for the global phase-out of HHPs and their substitution with safer alternatives;
(2) pesticide manufacturers ensure the traceability of hazardous pesticide throughout the supply chain to better protect, realize and respect human rights; and
(3) pesticide manufacturers commit to implementing the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.