From Copper to Ashes: Violations of the Right to a Healthy Environment and Health in Tsumeb, Namibia
Abstract
The rights to a healthy environment and health are not new human rights to the African System for Human and Peoples’ Rights. In fact, they have been protected under the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights since 1981. However, outside of the established normative framework, a pressing issue arises in States where the extractive industry maintains a stronghold on the economy. The people of and around Tsumeb, Namibia, have been subjected to egregious human rights abuses and an environmental crisis. Their lives and environment have been historically and continuously destroyed due to the foreign-corporate extractive industry. The mining and smelting industry have exposed workers and communities to highly toxic and dangerous materials. This article explores how existing neocolonial frameworks permit State and non-State actors to persistently degrade the environment, exploit the most marginalized, and deny basic rights such as clean water, sanitation and health. It also calls into question current practices in Tsumeb that place financial gains above human lives and the environment. This article calls for the very needed accountability for the people of Tsumeb.
Recommended Citation
Sarah Dávila,
From Copper to Ashes: Violations of the Right to a Healthy Environment and Health in Tsumeb, Namibia,
37 Fordham Envtl. L. Rev. 59
(2026).
Available at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/elr/vol37/iss1/3
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