The National Human Rights Commission of Korea hereby announces Chairperson Statement, calling for the government and the company concerned to acknowledge their responsibility on the deadly humidifier sanitizer and to immediately provide remedy for victims.
Scope of damages caused by the humidifier sanitizer are grave and diverse to include death, lung damage, and various chronic diseases. What was even more shocking was that most of victims are infants and pregnant women whose health have to be carefully protected. In addition, the damage was occurred by a daily supply that most of people can easily purchase. Protecting people’s life and health is the most fundamental value of human rights. and hence, this damage caused by humidifier sanitizer is of grave concern.
These days, activities of multinational enterprises frequently infringe upon human rights. For example, in 1950, in West Germany, use of thalidomide to prevent morning sickness of pregnant women caused more than 10,000 cases of birth defects and in 1984 in India, leakage of fatal gas led to more than 200,000 people damaged. The deadly humidifier sanitizer in Korea is one of the cases where business activities severly infringed up the life and health of consumers.
With human rights infringements by multinational enterprises taking place, the international community started to pay attention on the issue of business and human rights, centered on the UN and OECD. In particular, the UN Human Rights Council adopted the UN Guiding Principle on Business and Human Rights in June, 2011. The UNGP prescribes that the state has a responsibility to protect its people from human rights infringements by business through appropriate policies on business activities.
The UNGP prescribes that State has a responsibility to protect its people from human rights infringements by businesses through appropriate policy to on business activities, that business has a responsibility to check and monitor to refrain from infringing upon human rights and to actively deal with human rights infringements.
Baskut Tuncak, the UN Special Rapporteur on Hazardous Substances and Wastes expressed his concern on the measures taken by the government to prevent recurrence of the damages by the humidifier sanitizer. He emphasized that pursuant to the Constitutions of Republic of Korea and international human rights treaties which Korea ratified, the government bears a responsibility to protect human rights from impacts of hazardous material and to formulate strong legislation and systems to protect life and health of every individual from the danger of hazardous substances.
The government should expand support for victims of the deadly humidifier sanitizer and to improve management system including assessment on harmful impact of chemical material to prevent recurrence of such tragedy.
The NHRCK would like to convey words of condolences to victims and their families and it will push forward with the NAP on Business and Human Rights to prevent recurrence of the tragedy.
