Crisis in Colombia: UN Raises Concerns Over Mercury Contamination in the Atrato River.

Photo by Danilo Arenas on pexels.com 

The United Nations (UN) has urged the government of Colombia to act on what it has been described as “a human rights emergency”. A recent evaluation demonstrated that the high levels of mercury in the Atrato River In Colombia are threatening the health of people living in the area.

The UN presented evidence that more than a third of the population living in the Atrato River basin has been exposed to mercury levels exceeding the parameters set by the World Health Organization (WHO). Mercury is considered extremely toxic and dangerous to human health, as it can cause organ failure, neurological damage, and developmental delays in unborn children, among other effects.

For instance, this metal severely contaminates fish and the natural environment. The Atrato River basin is home to minority groups such as indigenous people and Afro-Colombian, who rely primarily on small-scale farming and fishing. Their livelihoods are now threatened by toxic contamination; fisheries containing species endemic to the region have completely disappeared from the river.

Illegal gold mining is the primary driver of this crisis in Colombia and other Latin American countries. This activity is considered the fastest-growing criminal economy in the region in recent years, due to rising gold prices and weak traceability systems.

In the Atrato River basin, illegal mining hubs are controlled by the country’s largest criminal organization, the Gulf Clan. Mercury is used to extract gold and is then washed into the river each day. In addition, wooden boats are needed to extract material, leading to massive deforestation.

The local community has been raising its concerns for many years now. “Illegal mining affects the ecosystem in every way … it leads to degraded land. There are no trees. The water sources are drying up, it’s polluted by mercury,” stated Bernardino Mosquera, one of the river guardians. Given the lack of government support, some people have decided to act independently through different small community projects. For example, a group of local women has been cooperating to reforest the land. “We are doing this work to see if we can replace a little bit of what has been lost,” one of them said.

In October 2025, Special Rapporteurs of the United Nations Human Rights Council (OHCHR) issued a letter expressing their concerns over the lack of compliance with the 2016 Colombian Constitutional Court ruling that recognized the Atrato River as a legal entity. UN Special Rapporteur on Toxics and Human Rights Marcos Orellana described the situation “incredibly concerning”, calling on the government of Colombia to act urgently.

written by Ludovica Muncibì