Pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 54/10, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on toxics and human rights, Marcos Orellana, will present a thematic report, including recommendations, to the UN General Assembly in October 2025. His thematic report will focus, in accordance with his mandate, on military activities and toxics.

The Special Rapporteur is an independent expert appointed by the UN Human Rights Council. The Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations system made up of 47 Member States responsible for the promotion and protection of all human rights around the globe. The Special Rapporteur is part of a system of so-called UN Special Procedures, made up of independent human rights experts with mandates to report and advise on human rights from a thematic or country-specific perspective. Their activities include undertaking country visits, sending communications to States or other actors about concerns or violations, conducting thematic reports, convening expert consultations, contributing to the development of international human rights standards, and engaging in technical cooperation. Special Rapporteurs are selected on the basis of their expertise and experience in the area of their mandate, personal integrity, independence, impartiality, and objectivity. They are not employed by the United Nations and do not receive remuneration for their work.

The mandate seeks to help States, businesses, and other stakeholders to adopt solutions with regard to harmful substances and human rights issues.

Dr. Marcos A. Orellana was appointed Special Rapporteur on toxics and human rights in August 2020 and reappointed in 2023 for a second three-year term. He is an expert in international law and the law on human rights and the environment. His practice as legal advisor has included work with United Nations agencies, governments, and non-governmental organizations.

Recent hostilities have shocked the world and prompted renewed attention to the toxic dimensions of military operations and activities. There is an increasing attention on accountability for possible war and other international crimes, environmental harm and ecocide, cleaning up of military bases, and the use of toxic chemicals by armed forces.

Military activities do not only concern conduct during armed conflict. The toxic dimensions of military activities are also relevant during peacetime, including in post-conflict and reconstruction settings. For example, the Special Rapporteur has addressed the legacy of nuclear weapons testing in country visit reports, statements and allegation letters. Similarly, the operation of military bases may cause toxic pollution within and beyond the military installations, adversely impacting the territories, lands and resources of Indigenous Peoples or the air, soil and waters of local communities residing in the vicinity of the bases.

Recent normative developments have also drawn attention to the interface between military activities and toxics. After more than a decade of work, in August 2022 the UN International Law Commission finalized principles on the Protection of the environment in relation to armed conflicts and transmitted them to the UN General Assembly, which welcomed the conclusion of that work and encouraged the widest possible dissemination of the principles. The International Law Commission included a specific principle on remnants of war and toxics. At the same time, a proposal to introduce the crime of ecocide to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court has been widely disseminated. Further, the UN Environment Assembly has passed resolutions on the environment and armed conflict, most recently in 2024. Also, the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly have recognized the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment in 2021 and 2022, respectively.

The thematic report on military activities and toxics will build on the 2007 report of the toxic waste mandate that focused on the impact of armed conflict on exposure to toxic and dangerous products and wastes (A/HRC/5/5).

Objectives

The thematic report on military activities and toxics aims to provide information and recommendations that can help strengthen policies and practices in this area. The report will identify adverse impacts of military activities, including activities before, during and after armed conflict, and during peacetime, in respect of hazardous substances and wastes. The report will also analyze gaps and shortcomings in the legal frameworks governing these activities, with a view to securing both protection from toxic exposures and accountability.

Specific Objectives of this report include:

1. Document toxic impacts resulting from military activities and identify possible policies, strategies and measures to prevent them.
2. Support States in implementing good practices to prevent adverse toxic impacts from the activities of their military forces.
3. Explore developments, gaps and shortcomings in the landscape of international instruments relevant to the sound management of chemicals and wastes by military forces.

Key questions and types of input/comments sought

The Special Rapporteur invites all stakeholders interested in issues relating to military activities and toxics to provide input for the preparation of his thematic report. Contributions may be country-specific, general, or academic in nature, and may include information on the following topics:

• Toxic contamination from military activities: Information on contamination from military operations and bombardments, among other wartime activities, and information on contamination from peacetime activities, including the operation of military bases, conduct of military exercises, among other activities.
• Weapons design: Information on how weapons can be conceived in a way to minimize collateral damage in terms of the environment and toxic contamination.
• Corruption: Information on whether or how military activities are complicit in unlawful activities that result in high levels of toxic pollution, such as in respect of mercury use in small-scale gold mining.
• Nuclear weapons testing: Examples of how nuclear weapons testing has resulted in a legacy of radioactive contamination and ways in which the legacy has been addressed.
• Glyphosate and Agent Orange: Identify obstacles as well as good practices in providing effective remedies to individuals who have been exposed to toxics during armed conflict, such as glyphosate or agent orange.
• Chemical weapons: Analysis of the gaps and shortcomings in international instruments relevant to chemical weapons, including with respect to the use of such weapons for forced displacement of communities.
• Landmines: Current challenges in effective implementation of the 1987 Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction.
• Toxic remnants of conflicts: Identify good practices in rendering harmless the toxic and other hazardous remnants of armed conflict.
• Cleanup: Identify good practices in cleaning up contaminated military sites or areas where armed conflict has taken place.
• Ecocide: Information on the crime of ecocide, including how it has been designed, interpreted and applied.
• Monitoring and assessment: Identify tools for monitoring and assessing the toxic impacts of conflict, including the role of satellite technologies.
• International environmental instruments: Analysis of how key multilateral environmental agreements in the cluster of toxics and waste relate to military activities.
• Access to justice and accountability: Document efforts at securing accountability where military officers may be responsible for causing toxic harm and exposure to hazardous substances.

How inputs will be used?

The input will inform the preparation of the thematic report of the Special Rapporteur to the General Assembly.

Unless otherwise specified, the input will be published on the website of the Special Rapporteur. If you would NOT like your written input or any other information to be published on the website of the Special Rapporteur, please explicitly indicate this in your input. In view of consent and privacy issues, contributions containing names of alleged victims will be considered but not published online.

Media inquiries

Useful contacts and links for organizations and representatives who wish to be in contact with the Special Rapporteur on toxics and human rights follow:

• E-mail: hrc-sr-toxicshr@un.org

• OHCHR website of the Special Rapporteur

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