Impact on Human Rights
Hazardous pesticide pollution is a violation of Australians’ human rights.
UN experts on food and toxins have publicly declared pesticides to be a serious human rights concern.
Need for a Human Rights Act in Australia
In 2022, the United Nations General Assembly passed an historic resolution recognising the right to a healthy environment as a universal human right, which Australia supported.
Yet Australia remains among a minority of countries that do not yet explicitly recognise the right to a healthy environment in treaties or legislation.
ACT Government is the only jurisdiction in Australia to have formally enshrined the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment – by including it in the Territory’s Human Rights Act.
As outlined by Amnesty International, Australia is the only liberal democracy in the world without a law protecting all human rights.
A Human Rights Act would protect our right to a healthy environment
The Rights of the Child
UNICEF and Human Rights Watch actively campaign on how exposure to hazardous pesticides is a violation of fundamental human rights, including the rights of children.
Hazardous pesticides, such as chlorpyrifos (banned in EU, UK, Canada and elsewhere, recently re-approved by APVMA in Australia), are a violation to the UN Convention on Rights of the Child, according to former UN Special Rapporteur on Toxics.
Following a 2023 visit to Australia, the UN Special Rapporteur on toxics and human rights wrote: The Special Rapporteur is concerned about the import and use of hazardous pesticides when information on their risks and hazards is lacking, leading to the exposure of local farming communities and children. The Special Rapporteur is also seriously concerned by information received on the increase in the volume of pesticides and agrochemicals used in Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria, and particularly by the presence of hazardous pesticides in children’s playgrounds near agricultural areas. Reportedly, glyphosate, which is classified as “probably carcinogenic” by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, is commonly used next to medical clinics, playgrounds, hospitals and nursing homes with no public warnings to bystanders.
In Australia, children are being poisoned by pesticides before birth, while still in utero. Breast milk is routinely found to contain pesticide traces. Children are more adversely impacted by pesticide spray drift, food and water contamination, and other exposures than adults. This increases the risk of disease in young adulthood.
If you consider a child’s fundamental human rights have been impacted by pesticide poisoning, consider legal avenues and advocacy options.
Protect the rights of our children from exposure to hazardous pesticides.
Resources and Expert Opinion
UN Human Rights Council: 2024 Visit to Australia by the Special Rapporteur for toxics and human rights
Children’s Environmental Health Collaborative: Pesticides: Exposure to pesticides puts children at risk
Environmental Defenders Office: The Right to a Healthy Environment
Human Rights Watch: Submission to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on children’s right to a healthy environment
Pesticide companies ‘seriously deficient’ on human rights, says UN toxics expert
Council On Environmental Health: Pesticide exposure in children
For more, click here to our Resources page.
Pesticide Action Australia 