Health
The Right to Health
The right to health is a fundamental human right protected by Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Article 10 of the Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Protocol of San Salvador). All Haitians have a right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health without discrimination. Implicated in the right to health is the right to water and sanitation, the right to food, the right to housing, and the right to a healthy environment.
Gold mining negatively affects the underlying determinants of health, including by contaminating water and air and diminishing the food supply. Haiti’s healthcare system is significantly under-resourced and many Haitians have limited or no access to healthcare. This creates a significant risk that mining will negatively impact the health of Haitians. Each stage of the mining process creates significant risks to health. Even before mining begins, exploratory drilling can release toxic chemicals. Mining requires heavy use of chemicals, which produces enormous amounts of solid waste. This creates a risk of water contamination and can cause landslides and soil erosion. These harms pose significant threats to the health and safety of Haitians, especially given the high number of earthquakes in the country. Earthquakes can cause the failure of dams used to contain the toxic waste produced by mining. Water contamination can lead to poisoning as well as destroy agriculture, threatening food supplies and the livelihood of the primarily farming communities in rural Haiti. On the other side of the island of Hispaniola, in the Dominican Republic, members of communities living near the Pueblo Viejo mine have reported suffering from skin infections, nausea, and respiratory issues as a result of the mine’s tailing dam, containing the toxic waste produced by the mine.
Two photos show Water Contaminated with Acid from Acid Mine Drainage in Peru. Photo: Milton Sanchéz Cubas, 2014.
The severe threats to health that mining poses are particularly concerning given the poor state of the right to health in Haiti. Many Haitians are unable to afford healthcare. A 2017 Word Bank report highlighted that 49% of households that did not contact a health professional cited financial reasons. Healthcare costs have been increasing, a major concern for a country where the majority of the population lives on less than $2 USD a day. Out-of-pocket expenses on healthcare have been rising, with inflation increasing the price of medicine by 35%. Patients often incur significant debts after accessing treatment. Given the poor state of Haiti’s healthcare infrastructure, many who are financially able to regularly seek healthcare outside of the country.
Haiti’s healthcare infrastructure is insufficient to meet the needs of Haitians. Haiti’s public healthcare spending per capita is $13 USD, lower than the average of $15 USD for low income countries, and significantly lower than the healthcare spending of nearby countries. The neighboring Dominican Republic's public healthcare spending was $180 USD per capita. There are also insufficient primary care resources, with only 0.3 clinics per 10,000 people. Political instability has also inhibited access to healthcare - reducing investment in Haiti’s health infrastructure and making it more difficult to safely travel to access healthcare. Healthcare centers and staff have been targeted by violence, which have resulted in clinic closures. The August 2021 7.2 magnitude earthquake also damaged health facilities.
Haiti’s under-resourced healthcare system has made it difficult for the country to respond to multiple emergencies at a time. Following the August 2021 earthquake, COVID-19 public vaccination efforts that had just begun, due to global vaccine inequity, were put on hold to respond to the mass fatalities and injuries from the disaster. The COVID-19 pandemic also placed enormous strain on the healthcare system, impairing the system’s ability to treat casualties of the earthquake. As of September 2021, 34% of people in areas impacted by the earthquake did not have access to basic medical services due to the pandemic’s effect on the healthcare system. Given the already high risk of climate disasters like earthquakes and hurricanes in Haiti, a risky activity like mining which increases the likelihood of these disasters, will worsen the strain on Haiti’s healthcare system. Mining will exacerbate existing health challenges in Haiti, placing additional burdens on the struggling healthcare infrastructure and threatening the right to health of Haitians.
“Does mining make sense? What will happen when the products they use contaminate the water table and the rivers? Will this mean that people cannot have healthy babies? Cannot drink the water?”
– Sabine Lamour, Sociologist and coordinator of feminist organization, Solidarite Fanm Ayisyèn (SOFA)
