"Peru: Women unite against toxic metals pollution", 5th June 2020

In Peru, communities in the Andes and the Amazon have come together to defend the health of people and families affected by pollution from toxic metals. To achieve this, they have formed the National Platform of People Affected by Toxic Metals, which was recently awarded Peru’s National Human Rights Prize. Indigenous, rural and urban women are especially affected by this daily struggle and are now determined to end the contamination affecting their bodies, their rivers and their land. They demand that the state determine responsibility and provide immediate solutions. 

“When I found out that my son had 17 toxic metals [in his body], that’s when I took a stand and said, ‘This cannot continue,’” remembers Carmen Chambi, a community leader from Alto Huancané, located in the province of Espinar at over 4,000 meters above sea level. Studies conducted by the government on water sources in the province have found alarming levels of toxic metals. With her son’s test results, this terrible reality had affected what she most cares about. Her mother, Melchora Surco, a pioneer in the struggle for access to health in this part of the country, has even asked herself why she should keep living. “To be suffering like this makes me want to die,” she said. 

Yolanda Zurita is a leader from La Oroya, a city in Junín province in Peru’s central Andes. The Blacksmith Institute rated the city as one of the ten most polluted places on the planet. Today, Yolanda encourages other women to fight for the present and the future of the children of her community...