The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) has recently conducted the notification act of the judgment in the case of Residents of La Oroya v. Peru, establishing the Peruvian State’s accountability for the harm endured by 80 residents of La Oroya and ordering monetary compensation to the victims for the incurred damage.
In December 2022, a group of La Oroya inhabitants filed a lawsuit against the Ministry of Health and the General Directorate of Environmental Health of Peru. The claim sought protection of their right to health and a healthy environment, accusing the La Oroya Metallurgical Complex’s (CMLO) managing company of failure to meet environmental protection standards, which resulted in alarmingly high lead levels in the blood of children and pregnant women in the community.
Despite a 2006 ruling from the Peruvian Constitutional Court mandating protective measures for the community, the IACHR stated in 2020 that there was no evidence of effective action taken by the State to fully execute the Peruvian judgment, even 14 years later.
In its ruling, the court held the Peruvian State internationally responsible for violating La Oroya residents’ right to a healthy environment. Despite knowledge of the high levels of pollution produced by the CMLO, Peru did not fulfill its obligation to safeguard the rights of its population.
Further, the court held Peru liable for the adjustment of the maximum permissible values of sulfur dioxide in the air in 2017, qualifying it as a deliberately regressive measure infringing upon the obligation of progressive development with regards to the right to a healthy environment outlined in Article 26 of the American Convention on Human Rights.
Additionally, the court concluded that Peru is in violation of the right to health and personal integrity, access to information, political participation, judicial guarantees and the right to judicial protection for the 80 victims. It also assigned accountability to the State for infringing upon the rights of children, in detriment to the 57 minors affected by environmental pollution and lack of State attention. Peru is further implicated in violating the right to life for two victims who lost their lives due to pollution.
The prescribed measures include compel the State to provide complimentary medical, psychological and psychiatric services to the victims, as well as setting up a specialized healthcare system for symptoms or diseases related to pollution exposure. As a means of compensation, the State was directed to financially recompense the victims, proportionately to each victim’s level of impact and vulnerability.
In 2006, La Oroya was declared one of the 10 most polluted cities in the world and its case has become one of the most scrutinized in matters concerning environmental pollution.