International body to rule on toxins as a human rights violation

Joining Hands backs health movement

The government of Peru has two months to respond to a petition from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) before it rules on allegations that severe contamination from a multi-metal smelter owned by a St. Louis corporation threatens the human rights of the residents of the filthy mountain city where it operates.

La Oroya is a city of 35,000, high in the Andes mountains.

The IACHR is a division of the Organization of American States (OAS), an entity that brings together 35 member states to work on social and economic development.

The Doe Run Corporation, which is based in St. Louis, is the focus of a campaign launched by the Friends of La Oroya, a U.S.-based coalition that includes the Joining Hands Network of Giddings-Lovejoy Presbytery and other Presbyterian congregations, including Broad Street Presbyterian Church in Columbus, Ohio.

The Rev. Ellie Stock, pastor of the Northminster Presbyterian Church in St. Louis, is the chair of the coalition.

Doe Run's smelter spews over populated neighborhoods.

 “It is critical for the health and wholeness of La Oroya and the entire Mantaro River Valley, particularly the thousands of children, pregnant women and elderly who are the most vulnerable to lead and other heavy metal poisoning, that Doe Run be held accountable for the extreme environmental degradation of land, water and air (that) its outmoded smeltering processes are causing,” said Stock.

The petition charges that severe contamination from the smelter and the lack of effective pollution and health controls by the government gravely threatens the rights of the city’s people, including their rights to life, health and integrity. It was drafted by Earthjustice, the Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense (AIDA), the Center for Human Rights and Environmental Defense and Peruvian lawyer Carlos Chirinos.

“This first step by the IACHR is good news,” said Chirinos, an attorney with the Peruvian Society for Environmental Defense (SPDA), an organization that has been associated with the case since its inception, and one of the lawyers representing the community. “It shows the strength of our petition and is a positive step in the process to identify the government’s responsibilities.”

The IACHR forwarded the petition to the Peruvian government last week after determining that it met the commission’s standards to merit investigation. After two months, the commission will rule on the case. Should the commission say that the pollutants are a violation of human rights, the ruling will apply more pressure to the Peruvian government to defend the health of its citizens.

The commission is simultaneously evaluating a request by these groups for precautionary measures to address the urgent health threats to the residents of La Oroya. “We are now waiting for the government’s comments on the petition, as well as a decision by the commission on the request for precautionary measures.

 “These measures could help considerably to provide effective protection for the people’s human rights in La Oroya,” said Astrid Puentes of AIDA.

Those measures include adequate diagnosis and medical treatment for the persons represented, education and efficient access to information, effective emissions and contamination controls, an evaluation of contamination in key areas of the city and implementation of adequate clean up measures.

“Despite the fact that Doe Run continues to dump nearly two million pounds of toxic emissions over the city each day and has repeatedly broken Peruvian environmental law, the company has never had to pay a penny in fines. Last year, Doe Run’s profits were $150 million,” said the Rev. Hunter Farrell, a PC(USA) mission worker in Peru who works closely with the coalition through Joining Hands.

“The IACHR legal action could push the Peruvian government to change that,” Farrell said.

Other organizations that are part of the La Oroya coalition include the Dominican Sisters, Oxfam-America (Boston and Lima), Catholic Relief Services, the Corporate Social Responsibility Program of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Society of Jesus of the Missouri Province.

The Joining Hands Giddings-Lovejoy Network is partnered with the Movement for Health of La Oroya (MOSAO), five local Peruvian organizations that initiated the campaign on behalf of the children who have tested positive for lead poisoning in the community.