A joint initiative with WCL's Center for Human Rights & Humanitarian Law and Program on Environmental and Energy Law, the Global Toxics & Human Rights Project leverages partnerships with a broad coalition of stakeholders to provide technical assistance, strategic planning, case support, advocacy, awareness raising, and standard setting. The Project also builds on American University Washington College of Law's (AUWCL) specialized knowledge and experience in environmental justice and supporting UN mandates to enrich the work of UN Special Rapporteur on toxics and human rights professor, Marcos Orellana.
Marcos Orellana, the Special Rapporteur on human rights and toxics, will undertake an official visit to Türkiye from December 2-13, 2024 at the invitation of the Government of Türkiye and will issue a report summarizing the visit and including recommendations will be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in September 2025.
The Special Rapporteur would like to invite all interested individuals and organizations working on issues related to toxics and human rights and implications for human rights of the environmentally sound management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes concerning Türkiye. Please email contributions no later than November 15, 2024 in English, French, or Spanish in Word format to hrc-sr-toxicshr@un.org and indicate “Submission for Special Rapporteur’s visit to Türkiye” in the email subject line. Please limit your contributions to a maximum of 2,500 words and if necessary, provide links to relevant documents or attach annexes.
Visit to learn more: https://www.ohchr.org/en/calls-for-input/2024/call-inputs-visit-united-nations-special-rapporteur-toxics-and-human-rights
November 4 2024: UN Special Rapporteur Marcos Orellana submitted an amicus curiae to the Supreme Federal Court of Brazil in the case challenging the constitutionality of the so-called "poison package" (Law 14.785/2023), presenting key international human rights standards related to hazardous substances and human rights and urged Brazil's Supreme Federal Court to exercise conventionality control.
Every year, the UN Special Rapporteur on toxics and human rights, Marcos Orellana, presents two reports on a thematic report of his choosing: one to the UN General Assembly and another to the UN General Assembly. Each report contains in-depth research on a specific topic related to toxics and includes a series of concrete conclusions and recommendations for States, businesses, or the international community. To make these reports accessible to the widest audience, the Global Toxics & Human Rights Project has published online summaries of reports on mercury and small-scale gold mining; the impacts of toxics on Indigenous Peoples; the cycle of plastics and human rights; and the right to science in the context of toxics.
November 5 2024: UN Special Rapporteur Marcos Orellana presented an oral report to the Constitutional Tribunal of Peru in support of his previously-submitted amicus curiae regarding unconstitutionality proceedings concerning REINFO, a law that extends the period for mining formalization. The UN Special Rapporteur for toxics and human rights Dr. Marcos Orellana submitted an amicus curiae in March 2024 urging the tribunal to consider how REINFO has become an instrument that promotes mining activity outside the control of the State, with serious impacts on environmental and human rights including mercury pollution, deforestation, forced displacement of communities, and the violent intimidation of those who oppose organized environmental crimes.
Click here to read Dr. Orellana's statements before the Peruvian constitutional tribunal
The Global Toxics & Human Rights Project is proud to release its inaugural newsletter. You will hear from Dr. Orellana, Special Rapporteur on human rights and toxics, detailing progress we have made in our advocacy for human rights protections regarding toxic and hazardous substances and wastes and the ways you can engage with the Project.
