Mercury, Mining, and the Right to a Healthy River: Corporate and State Accountability in Colombia’s Atrato Basin

The Atrato River, which runs nearly 750 kilometers from Colombia’s western Andes to the Caribbean Sea, has long been the lifeline of the Chocó department. For centuries, it has sustained Afro-Colombian and Indigenous communities who depend on its waters for food, culture, and livelihood. Today, however, this same river has become the epicenter of a profound human rights crisis. Mercury contamination from illegal gold mining has poisoned its waters, endangered the health of thousands, and eroded the ecological and cultural integrity of an entire region. The issue, which lies at the intersection of environmental destruction, corruption, and neglect, has drawn the urgent attention of the United Nations, which in October 2025 described the situation as “a serious and ongoing human rights crisis.”

In a joint communication, three United Nations Human Rights Council special rapporteurs—Marcos Orellana, Special Rapporteur on Toxics and Human Rights; David Boyd, Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment; and José Francisco Cali Tzay, Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples—expressed grave concern over Colombia’s continued inaction despite a landmark 2016 ruling by the nation’s Constitutional Court. That decision granted the Atrato River legal personhood, recognising it as a subject of rights to “protection, conservation, maintenance, and restoration.” The Court also affirmed the rights of the communities living along its banks to participate in the stewardship of the river, demanding the Colombian state take “immediate and effective measures” to end illegal mining, remediate the environmental damage, and protect the health of affected populations.

However, as the United Nations noted, nearly a decade after that ruling, implementation remains “insufficient and fragmented.” Special Rapporteur Marcos Orellana stated, “Ten years have passed and we have seen that there has been insufficient implementation and compliance with the terms of that decision.” The rapporteurs further warned that mercury contamination has reached alarming levels, with measurable effects on the health of children and pregnant women. According to recent UN findings, more than one-third of the population in the Atrato River basin shows exposure to mercury concentrations exceeding the limits recommended by the World Health Organization, a level associated with neurological damage, developmental disorders, and chronic illness.

The crisis extends beyond health concerns. It represents a breakdown of governance, law enforcement, and environmental responsibility. Although the Colombian government passed a nationwide ban on mercury use in mining in 2018, enforcement has been sporadic, particularly in regions under the control of illegal armed groups. Many of these groups profit from unregulated gold extraction, smuggling, and extortion, making environmental restoration a dangerous and politically sensitive issue. The United Nations observed that “organized crime, corruption, and weak state presence” have become significant barriers to compliance, undermining the rule of law and threatening environmental defenders who attempt to expose illegal operations.

The Colombian Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, led by Minister Susana Muhamad, stated earlier this year that the government was “working to coordinate environmental protection efforts with the Ministry of Defense” and intended to launch restoration programs for the Atrato basin and its tributaries. Despite these assurances, the United Nations reported little tangible progress, citing ongoing contamination, minimal field enforcement, and a lack of sustainable funding for community-led monitoring. Local activists, including members of the Guardianes del Atrato—a group formed to oversee the 2016 court ruling—have repeatedly denounced what they describe as “symbolic compliance” rather than substantive action. In several municipalities, they have documented continued mercury discharge into the river, limited health screenings for affected populations, and threats against environmental defenders.

The contamination of the Atrato River also implicates corporate accountability on a global scale. Gold extracted illegally from the Chocó region often enters international supply chains through intermediaries, making its way to refineries and markets abroad. This system of opaque trade undermines both local and international environmental norms. The United Nations Environment Programme has repeatedly called on governments and corporations to strengthen gold traceability systems and implement due diligence mechanisms under the Minamata Convention on Mercury, a legally binding international treaty designed to protect human health and the environment from mercury pollution. As a signatory, Colombia is obliged to enforce stringent controls on mercury trade and usage. The United Nations has urged the state to “comply fully with its obligations under the Minamata Convention and to take immediate steps to protect the rights of affected communities.”

The Colombian Constitutional Court’s 2016 ruling remains one of the world’s most progressive judicial recognitions of nature’s legal rights. It set a precedent for viewing ecosystems not merely as resources but as entities with intrinsic rights and moral standing. Yet, the distance between principle and practice continues to grow. Field reports from the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) indicate that the institutional framework established by the ruling has been weakened by administrative fragmentation, insufficient funding, and political turnover. Many local officials lack either the capacity or the authority to enforce environmental and human rights protections in conflict-affected areas.

In its official communication to the Government of Colombia, the United Nations emphasized that “the lack of effective state intervention to stop illegal mining and remediate contamination constitutes a violation of the rights to life, health, and a healthy environment.” The statement also urged the government to treat mercury contamination as both a human rights and environmental emergency, calling for coordinated national and local responses, the immediate cessation of illegal mining activities, and long-term rehabilitation of the river ecosystem.

The Colombian government’s challenge now lies not only in enforcing environmental law but in rebuilding trust with the affected communities. Without consistent monitoring, adequate funding, and transparent coordination, the Atrato River’s recovery will remain a distant promise. The contamination crisis underscores the broader tension between Colombia’s economic dependency on extractive industries and its constitutional and international human rights obligations. The United Nations has stated that “the protection of human rights and environmental sustainability must take precedence over short-term economic interests.”

Ultimately, the tragedy of the Atrato River is not only about pollution; it is about justice. It reveals how environmental degradation can mirror social inequality, where the poorest and most marginalized bear the greatest burdens. The 2016 decision offered hope that the law could become a vehicle for ecological and cultural renewal. Yet as the river continues to run grey with mercury and sediment, that hope risks fading into symbolism unless the Colombian state and global corporate actors act decisively.

If the United Nations, the Colombian government, and international corporations uphold their own declared commitments—to human rights, to the environment, and to sustainable development—then the Atrato River might one day recover its rightful status as a living entity, not a contaminated memory. Until then, the world watches as Colombia’s most sacred river continues to flow through the contradictions of its own democracy.