The Health Risks of Burning Waste in Lebanon WATCH
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HUMAN RIGHTS “As If You’re Inhaling Your Death” The Health Risks of Burning Waste in Lebanon WATCH “As If You’re Inhaling Your Death” The Health Risks of Burning Waste in Lebanon Copyright © 2017 Human Rights Watch All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America ISBN: 978-1-6231-35461 Cover design by Rafael Jimenez Human Rights Watch defends the rights of people worldwide. We scrupulously investigate abuses, expose the facts widely, and pressure those with power to respect rights and secure justice. Human Rights Watch is an independent, international organization that works as part of a vibrant movement to uphold human dignity and advance the cause of human rights for all. Human Rights Watch is an international organization with staff in more than 40 countries, and offices in Amsterdam, Beirut, Berlin, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Goma, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Nairobi, New York, Paris, Stockholm, South Korea, San Francisco, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto, Tunis, Washington DC, and Zurich. For more information, please visit our website: http://www.hrw.org NOVEMBER 2017 ISBN: 978-1-6231-35461 “As If You’re Inhaling Your Death” The Health Risks of Burning Waste in Lebanon Summary ........................................................................................................................... 1 Recommendations .............................................................................................................. 9 To the Ministry of Environment ................................................................................................. 9 To the Ministry of Public Health ............................................................................................... 10 To the Ministry of Education .................................................................................................... 10 To the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities ........................................................................... 10 To the Lebanese Parliament .................................................................................................... 10 To International Donors .......................................................................................................... 11 Methodology .................................................................................................................... 12 I. Background ....................................................................................................................14 Open Burning ......................................................................................................................... 16 Beirut and Mount Lebanon..................................................................................................... 20 Outside Beirut and Mount Lebanon ......................................................................................... 23 Environmental Concerns of Open Dumping and Burning .......................................................... 24 The Refugee Crisis .................................................................................................................. 25 Legislative and Policy Efforts ................................................................................................. 26 II. The Effects of Open Burning .......................................................................................... 28 Quality of Life ........................................................................................................................ 29 The Health Risks of Open Burning ........................................................................................... 32 The Impact of Open Burning on Nearby Residents ................................................................... 38 Vulnerable Populations .......................................................................................................... 41 Disproportionate Impact on Poor Communities ....................................................................... 45 III. Authorities’ Response ................................................................................................. 49 Inadequate Support to Municipalities .................................................................................... 49 Protests and Complaints ......................................................................................................... 51 Municipalities’ Failure to Act ................................................................................................... 52 Accountability ........................................................................................................................ 55 Right to Information ................................................................................................................ 56 IV. Steps Forward ............................................................................................................. 59 Positive Examples .................................................................................................................. 59 The Future of Waste Management in Lebanon ......................................................................... 61 V. Legal Standards ........................................................................................................... 64 Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................ 67 Annex I: Response from Ministry of Public Health ............................................................. 68 Annex II: Response from Civil Defense ............................................................................... 71 Summary “It’s like there’s fog across the whole town. We are coughing all the time, unable to breathe, sometimes we wake up and see ash in our spit. The intensity of the smell would cause us to become dizzy.” — Othman, Kfar Zabad, February 16, 2017 “When they burn we can’t breathe.... We’ve had to go to the hospital because of this.” — Mohamed, Kfar Zabad, February 16, 2017 Open burning of waste is a dangerous and avoidable practice that takes place across Lebanon. Because it risks causing a range of short and long-term health problems, it implicates the Lebanese government’s legal obligations to protect the health of its citizens. In Lebanon, open burning is a consequence of the government’s failure to manage solid waste in a way that respects environmental and health laws designed to protect people. Children and older persons are at particular risk. Open burning of waste occurs when existing waste management plans break down, such as occurred in Beirut and surrounding Mount Lebanon during a 2015 waste management crisis that saw garbage piling up in the streets. But it is also the result of the central government’s prioritization of waste collection and disposal in Beirut and Mount Lebanon, which produce just half of Lebanon’s municipal solid waste, while leaving other municipalities to fend for themselves without adequate financial support, technical expertise, and oversight. The open burning of waste in Lebanon may have serious consequences for the health of people living nearby. A range of scientific studies have documented the dangers that emissions from the open burning of household waste pose to human health. These include exposure to fine particles, dioxins, volatile organic compounds, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, and polychlorinated biphenyls, which have been linked to heart disease, cancer, skin diseases, asthma, and respiratory illnesses. The dangers of open burning of waste are compounded by the fact that Lebanon often does not properly dispose of industrial and healthcare waste, which may be mixed into the municipal solid waste stream. 1 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | NOVEMBER 2017 An open dump in Baalbek just meters from this family’s home. © Bassam Khawaja/Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch found that those living near open burning reported an array of health problems consistent with the frequent and sustained inhalation of smoke from the open burning of waste. These included chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, coughing, throat irritation, skin conditions, and asthma. In many cases, interviewees described a temporal relationship between the burning of waste and their health condition; some developed a condition after the burning started or they moved to an area where burning was taking place. Others said their symptoms subsided after a municipality stopped burning or they moved away from an area where burning was taking place. Because of its detrimental impact on health, the burning of waste triggers Lebanon’s obligations under international human rights law. Lebanon is a party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which requires it to take steps “AS IF YOU’RE INHALING YOUR DEATH” 2 An open dump in Bar Elias, where nearby residents said burning has taken place for years. © Bassam Khawaja/Human Rights Watch to achieve “the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.” While other factors may play some part in these illnesses, the extent of air pollution from the open burning of waste, the correlation between these conditions and periods of open burning, and interviews with doctors and other public health experts suggest a causal relationship between air pollution from the open burning of waste and poor community health. Ten doctors told Human Rights Watch that they believed the open