Doce River :: a year with no solution
Six million affected people have their human rights disrespected, say UN rapporteurs
One year after the environmental disaster in Mariana, in the state of Minas Gerais, caused by the collapse of the Fundão tailing dam owned by mining company Samarco, experts from the United Nations appealed to the Brazilian authorities on Friday, November 4, to resolve the human rights impacts that persist among the affected communities in the Doce River basin.
The collapse of the dam, which occurred on November 5, 2015, killed 19 people, displaced hundreds more and sent 32 million cubic meters of toxic mud flowing 700 kilometers downriver to the coast. According to the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, the material cost of the tragedy could reach R$155 billion.
According to the UN experts, some of the unresolved issues one year after the tragedy include lack of access to safe drinking water, river pollution, the uncertain fate of communities forced from their homes, and the insufficient response from the government and the companies involved. They said the human rights of the six million affected people are not being respected.
“The measures they are currently developing are simply insufficient to deal with the massive extent of the environmental and human costs of this collapse, which has been described as the worst socio-environmental disaster in the country’s history,” they said.
The experts also expressed concern over reports of health problems in affected riverside communities, as a result of both the contaminated water and the dust produced from the dry mud. They called on the Brazilian State to provide urgent clarification on the quality of the drinking water in the region.
“We are concerned by reports suggesting that some of the 700km of affected waterways, mainly the vital Doce River, are still contaminated by the initial disaster. Notably, levels of some heavy metals and water turbidity are said to be in breach of minimum standards.”
Finally, they criticized the legal harassment and intimidation by the companies against human rights defenders:
“We urge the companies to refrain from taking any action that amounts to intimidation of the work of human rights defenders, and to ensure that measures to safeguard their property are proportional and do not conflict with people’s right to freedom of expression and right to access remedies.”
The urgent appeal was signed by the special rapporteurs Dainius Puras, Michel Forst, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, Léo Heller and by the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights.
