Exposed: Health, Suffering, and Protecting Human Rights after Toxic Exposure

Application summary

Hazardous substances harm human beings in many ways. Toxins can be found everywhere: in the air we breathe, in the water we drink. Exposure also affects people who are already vulnerable or economically poor, for instance, people living next to a chemical plant. This compounds suffering and violates various human rights, such as rights to life, health, and the right to a healthy environment. Because these slow losses – of life, ecosystems, and health – are denied by authorities, future generations will be prone to a life with illness, with limited avenues to act against those long-term harms. Authorities and industries often suppress efforts to monitor or remedy exposure to evade culpability, which hampers victims access to justice. While slow to surface and often disputed, it does not mean that the effect of exposure or toxic disasters cannot be known. Rather, assessments, and knowledge about harmful properties, may only be carried out depending on political willingness, litigation, or sustained activism. While we have a growing understanding of the impact of toxins on public health, we know less of what agency remains for people, lawyers, and risk experts, to respond to this attritional violence over time, when repression or denial seem to render these agents powerless. Without a thorough understanding of agency – the way experts and rights activists manage threats, litigate cases, and creatively try and expose toxic risks – we risk undervaluing, (1) how people working in toxic environments pursue remedies through human rights activism, (2) how they push for greater legal protection internationally, and (3) how these contexts can offer opportunities to develop new strategies or remedies, even when the legal context or emergency powers to preserve security often pose restrictions. This project examines how rights activists counter denial strategies surrounding toxic exposure and push for greater protection and human rights remedies for victims.