• Italy: Leather Buyers Beware
    Apr 2, 2013
    (Barcelona) – Leather buyers at an international leather fair in Italy should only purchase leather goods from tanneries that comply with laws that protect the right to health and labor rights, Human Rights Watch said today as the fair opens in Bologna. Such compliance should include respecting both national and international environmental standards. Tanneries in the Hazaribagh area of the Bangladesh capital, Dhaka, do not meet these criteria, Human Rights Watch said.
  • Nigeria: Funds Released for Lead Cleanup
    Jan 29, 2013

    Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan’s decision to immediately release funds to clean up lead-contaminated villages in Nigeria will save untold lives. Releasing the funds clears the way for at least 1,500 children in urgent need of life-saving medical treatment in northern Nigeria to receive care.

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Environment and Health

  • Polluting Tanneries in Bangladesh Face Fines
    Apr 18, 2013
    For probably the first time, Bangladesh’s government has leveled pollution-related fines against two leather tanneries in Hazaribagh, a Dhaka neighborhood so polluted with waste from its roughly 150 tanneries that residents and workers are plagued by serious health problems.
  • Italy: Leather Buyers Beware
    Apr 2, 2013
    (Barcelona) – Leather buyers at an international leather fair in Italy should only purchase leather goods from tanneries that comply with laws that protect the right to health and labor rights, Human Rights Watch said today as the fair opens in Bologna. Such compliance should include respecting both national and international environmental standards. Tanneries in the Hazaribagh area of the Bangladesh capital, Dhaka, do not meet these criteria, Human Rights Watch said.
  • Mercury Treaty Designed to Save Lives
    Mar 14, 2013
    Suzanne, an 11-year-old who lives in Mali, eagerly explained how she handles deadly mercury to mine gold to help support her family.
  • Nigeria: Funds Released for Lead Cleanup
    Jan 29, 2013

    Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan’s decision to immediately release funds to clean up lead-contaminated villages in Nigeria will save untold lives. Releasing the funds clears the way for at least 1,500 children in urgent need of life-saving medical treatment in northern Nigeria to receive care.

  • Mercury Convention "Must Be Brought to Life"
    Jan 21, 2013
    This weekend, more than 140 governments agreed on the text for a new legally binding convention on mercury, a highly toxic metal. It has taken three years and many compromises to get here. What often seemed like a dry and bureaucratic process – delegates arguing over nuance during long night sessions – has very real implications for millions of people around the globe.
  • Mercury Treaty Will Help Protect Right to Health
    Jan 19, 2013
    The international mercury treaty just agreed sends an important signal that governments must do more to address the threat of mercury to the right to health, Human Rights Watch said today. On January 19, 2013, 140 governments created the treaty after five rounds of intense talks, which began in 2010.
  • Deadly Delays for Nigerian Children
    Dec 7, 2012
    In June, two weeks after I returned from Nigeria, I got a message that another child had died from lead poisoning -the 11th in the same family. I could picture the scene: the child starts convulsing; his parents rush him two hours over barely passable terrain on the back of a motorbike to the nearest town for medical treatment. By the time they reach the clinic, a temporary ward specifically for lead poisoning set up in the wake of the epidemic, it is too late, and another young life has been taken by this preventable tragedy.
  • Nigeria: Death Stalking Lead-Poisoned Children
    Dec 6, 2012

    The Nigerian government’s failure to produce promised funding to address the worst lead poisoning outbreak in modern history is leaving thousands of children to die or face lifelong disability, the Nigerian Youth Climate Action Network (NYCAN) and Human Rights Watch said today. The organizations opened a social media campaign on December 6, 2012, urging people to post comments to President Goodluck Jonathan’s official Facebook page, asking him why he has broken his promise to release funding for the cleanup of lead-contaminated areas in Zamfara State.

  • Protecting Child and Adult Gold Miners Against Mercury: A Right to Health Issue
    Oct 17, 2011
    In many poor rural areas around the world, men, women, and children work in artisanal gold mining to make a living. They use mercury to extract the gold from the ore and suffer from dire health consequences caused by the chemical.
  • Kosovo: Act Now to Close Poisoned Camps
    Jun 24, 2009
    The Kosovo authorities need to work with international donors to close lead-contaminated camps occupied by internally displaced Roma without delay, relocate their inhabitants, and provide medical treatment for lead poisoning.