GENEVA (29 July 2021) – Zambia must immediately provide medical treatment to thousands of children suffering from lead
poisoning, and must take swift steps to clean up areas contaminated by residue from what was once the country’s largest
lead mine, UN experts said today.
“More than 25 years after the Kabwe mine and smelter closed, it is scandalous that some 300,000 people still have to
live on toxic soil,” the experts said. “Schools, playgrounds, homes and back yards all have high lead levels, so
residents are being poisoned on a huge scale, and children are the most vulnerable.”
Kabwe, the capital of Zambia's Central Province, was founded on the discovery of lead and zinc deposits during colonial
times and was home to lead mining and smelting from 1904 to 1994, when the Government closed the mine. Over three
million tons of tailings (waste from the mining process), about 2.5 million tons of slag (waste from the smelter) and
other waste remain in the area.
“With every passing day of lead exposure, children’s health is being damaged and their futures are being compromised,”
the experts said. “It is critical to provide specialized treatment to all children and adults who require it.”
The World Health Organisation has concluded there is no safe level of lead in human blood. In Kabwe's afflicted
townships, over 95% of children have levels of 10 µg/dL and above, meaning they are at exposed to serious risks and
harms. Last year about 2,500 Kabwe children, tested under a World Bank project, were found to have levels of 45 g/dL and
higher, meaning they require immediate chelation therapy, the most common treatment for lead poisoning.
Lead attacks the central nervous system, causing numbness, anaemia, convulsions, brain damage and even death. Women can
suffer miscarriages and stillbirths.
“Young children are especially vulnerable to the toxic effects of lead and can suffer profound and permanent adverse
health effects and disabilities, particularly affecting the development of the brain and the nervous system,” the
experts said.
“It is also essential that children are not returned to the contaminated environment once they have completed chelation
treatment,” they said. This means Zambia must clean up all residential areas completely and permanently. “The Government
is still failing to fully address the lead pollution crisis in Kabwe and ensure sustained testing and treatment for
Kabwe’s residents,” the experts said.
The experts emphasized that states and mining companies have respective duties and responsibilities under the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights to protect, respect and remedy business-related human rights abuses.
Some progress was made under a World-Bank-funded project that started in 2016. However, the project does not address the
source of the contamination, Kabwe mine’s waste dumps, nor does it entail cleaning up the affected townships in a
comprehensive manner.
New sources of lead pollution are appearing in the area as the Zambian Government issues licences for small-scale mines,
now opening alongside unlicensed mines. The experts said authorities have not tackled health dangers from small-scale
mining which picked up after the main mine closed in 1994.
“Lead poisoning in Kabwe adds up to an assault on the right to life with dignity, the right to health and the right to a
clean environment,” the experts said, “and we urge Zambia to take responsibility and do more so that the children of the
country are ensured health, wellbeing and a decent future.”
ENDS
*The experts: Lead mandate SR Toxics, Marcos A. Orellana, Special Rapporteur on toxics and human rights, Mr. Olivier De Schutter, Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, the UN Working Group on human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises (known as the Working Group on Business and Human Rights), Mr. Surya Deva (Chairperson), Ms. Elzbieta Karska
(Vice-Chairperson), Mr. Githu Muigai, Mr. Dante Pesce, and Ms. Anita Ramasastry.
The UN independent experts have communicated their concerns related to the lead contamination in Kabwe in the following
communication letters: ZMB 2/2021 of 27.05.2021; ZAF 3/2021 of 27.05.2021; OTH 193/2021 of 27.05.2021.
The Special Rapporteurs are part of what are known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. The Special
Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN human rights system, is the general name for the Council's
independent investigative and monitoring mechanisms that deal with specific country situations or thematic issues in all
parts of the world. Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a
salary for their work. They are independent of any government or organisation and serve in their individual capacity.