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Submission on Zambia to the Committee on the Rights of the Child

90th Pre-Session

This submission focuses on the impact of lead pollution on children’s rights and the right to education, and particularly relates to articles 24, 28, and 31 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. It updates and complements Human Rights Watch’s…
News

Zambia’s Peaceful Transition ‘a New Dawn?’

President Hakainde Hichilema Should Champion Human Rights, Good Governance

Zambia’s peaceful transition of power today with the inauguration of Hakainde Hichilema as president brings hope for greater respect for human rights in the country. On August 16, the Electoral Commission of Zambia declared Hichilema the president-…
A man stands at a podium flanked by two people in face masks
News

Zambia: Tackle Lead Poisoning at Former Mine

UN Experts Urge Full Clean-Up; Candidates Should Address Kabwe Issue

(Lusaka) – Zambia’s next government should urgently clean up lead pollution that has affected the health of tens of thousands of children and adults in the city of Kabwe, six organizations said today, following the publication of a United Nations…
Former Mine Pit in Kabwe, Zambia
News

On World Environment Day, Kabwe’s Children Still Await Clean-Up

Toxic Legacy from Kabwe Mine Needs Action by Governments, Donors, Companies

This June 5 is World Environment Day, which kicks off the “United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration”. Ecosystem restoration is about preventing, halting and reversing environmental damage. It is  hugely important  globally…
Children play in a backyard
News

Impact of Covid-19 on Children’s Education in Africa

35th Ordinary Session

Human Rights Watch respectfully submits this written presentation to contribute testimony from children to the discussion on the impact of Covid-19 on children at the 35th Ordinary Session of the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of…
Schoolchildren attend class at a school in Norton, west of the capital Harare, Zimbabwe, September 10, 2019.
News

After Seven Years, Displaced Villagers Might Get Land

“Where will we go looking for land? There isn’t any land left,” Elisabeth, a 24-year-old mother of four, asked me in 2016. She, along with other rural residents of the Serenje district of Zambia’s Central Province, was displaced seven years ago — some…
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News

The Young Activists Fighting Lead Pollution in Zambia

Group’s Video Appeal for Government Clean-up and Healthcare

A new video just published by Zambian environmental activists confirms Human Rights Watch’s research on how a former industrial lead mine in their hometown of Kabwe has left a legacy of severe lead contamination. The youth activists, who work with…
Former Mine Pit in Kabwe, Zambia
News

Why Children in Kabwe, Zambia, Still Suffer Lead Poisoning

International Lead Poisoning Week Highlights Need for Action

I met “David” and his brothers in the dusty township of Chowa in Kabwe. David, eight years old, is thin and small for his age. Sitting in their yard, his grandfather described his worries about David. He has problems in…
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News

Children’s Right to a Healthy Environment

Submission by Human Rights Watch to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

  Human Rights Watch appreciates the opportunity to provide a submission to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on children’s right to a healthy environment, in advance of its 2020 annual full-day meeting on the same topic…
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News

Toxic Mines Poison Locals Long After Closure

“Henry” is thin and small for his age. The 10-year-old, his mum and I are sitting outside in the dusty, poor township of Waya in the Zambian city of Kabwe on a hot, dry afternoon. His mum, looking weary, describes their life…
Former Mine Pit in Kabwe, Zambia
News

Lead in the Blood: The Poisoning of a Generation

Years have passed, but Kasuba* still remembers when she was tested for lead as a child of about 8. The World Health Organisation says that there is no safe level of lead exposure. But the amount of the metal in Kasuba’s blood was up to…
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News

Interview: Playing in Poisoned Dust

Being Outside is a Health Risk for Some of Zambia’s Children

How did you first become aware of the problem in Kabwe? We learned about it from an environmental group several years ago but became interested in doing our own research after seeing a young person from Kabwe speak at a United Nations event.…
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News

Zambia: Lead Contamination Imperils Children

Effective Cleanup, Health Services Desperately Needed Near Former Lead Mine

(Johannesburg) – Lead exposure around a former lead and zinc mine in Zambia is having disastrous effects on children’s health, Human Rights Watch said today. The Zambian government should promptly clean up the…
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Report

“We Have to Be Worried”

  Summary More than one third of the population of Kabwe, Zambia— over 76,000 people—live in lead-contaminated townships. Studies estimate that half of the children in these areas have elevated blood lead levels that warrant medical treatment…
News

A Call for Justice in Africa’s Great Lakes Region

Nairobi Conference Commits to Greater Efforts to Fight Impunity, Defend Rights

Last week, the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region met in Nairobi, Kenya, to discuss “combating impunity and upholding human rights as key contributors to peace and security.” Representatives from the organization’s 12…
Jean Baptiste Nguondija, a resident of Ngbada, Central African Republic, by the grave of his 10 year-old daughter Nathana Poura. Nguondija has lost 5 children since the conflict began in 2013.
News

Human Rights Watch letter to Zambia Ministry of Education

Re: Human Rights Watch findings and recommendations on Zambia’s Re-entry Policy

Hon. David Mabumba Minister of General Education Ministry of General Education 89 Corner of Chimanga and Mogadishu Road P.O. Box 50093 Lusaka, Zambia   Dear Minister Mabumba,…
News

Zambia Should Keep Young Mothers in School

Don’t Let Pregnancy Be a Barrier to Education

In Zambia, 28 percent of girls and young women aged 15 to 19 are mothers or have been pregnant. That is more than 275,000 teenagers. In addition to this staggering rate of adolescent pregnancy, only 50 percent of girls who become…
Front cover of Zambia’s “Guidelines for the Re-Entry Policy,” adopted in 2007.
News

East African Bishops Should Support Education for Pregnant Teens

The Church Should Reject Policies that Hinder Girls’ Access to Schools

Representatives of the Catholic church in Eastern Africa will meet in Addis Ababa later this week to discuss “vibrant diversity, equal dignity, and peaceful unity” in the region. A good place to start would be to change the…
“Angela,” 20, walks with her son near her home after returning from school in Migori county, western Kenya
News

Africa: Pregnant Girls, Young Mothers Barred from School

African Governments Should Ensure Right to Education

  (Nairobi) - Tens of thousands of pregnant girls and adolescent mothers are banned or discouraged from attending school across Africa, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today, ahead of the Day of the African Child…
Students enrolled in the final year of lower secondary school in the classroom in a village in Kolda region, southern Senegal. Adolescent mothers and married girls study in this school.