[ 2017-03-30 ]

A 12-year-old boy in Ghana shows the mercury he uses to process gold

Ghana ratifies mercury convention
People living in Ghana’s mining communities may
now be better protected from deadly mercury
poisoning. On March 23, Ghana ratified the
Minamata Convention on Mercury – a real step
forward for communities affected by mercury
pollution.

Mercury, a toxic liquid metal, is used in
small-scale gold mines all over the world to
separate the gold from the ore, and then released
into air and water. Ghana is one of Africa’s top
gold producers, and about a million people work in
its small gold mines. Workers and nearby
communities are directly exposed to mercury.

A statement on the Human Rights Watch website
said, the Minamata Convention was adopted by
governments around the world in 2013 to protect
the environment and people. Mercury causes brain
damage and other severe health conditions, and it
can kill.

The convention obliges governments to reduce
mercury use in artisanal and small-scale gold
mining, the largest source of mercury pollution in
the world. It also requires governments to end
particularly harmful practices, such as burning a
gold-mercury amalgam in residential areas, and to
protect children from exposure.

"When I researched mercury use in Ghana, I watched
miners mix liquid mercury in pans filled with ore
in order to attract the gold particles. They then
held this gold-mercury amalgam over an open fire
to burn off the mercury and retrieve the raw gold.
Even children were working with mercury," the
report said.

"One of them, 12-year-old “Kwame,” told me:
“I burn it on my own, where I get fire, at my
mother’s house or any place.” Kwame carried a
small bottle of mercury with him at all times. He
and his fellow miners had never been told about
its dangers".

Up till now, Ghana’s government had a lax
attitude toward mercury, allowing its sale and
use. I visited a store where mercury was sold in
small wrapped plastic balls, in plastic bottles,
and in large containers too heavy to lift.

Ghana was also notably absent when the convention
was negotiated. But this has started to change.
With donor support, Ghana has begun training
health workers on mercury’s harmful effects and
taken some steps to address child labor in its
mines.

Ghana’s ratification of the Minamata Convention
is good news for ordinary Ghanaians, especially
its children. Now the real work of putting it into
practice should begin.

Source - Graphic.com.gh

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