Minamata Convention Text

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The Minamata Convention is named after the beautiful Minamata city in Japan, where local communities were poisoned by mercury-tainted industrial wastewater in the late 1950’s. The  diagnosis and suffering continues to be repeated around the world. Through the Minamata Convention on Mercury, the global community remembers the many lives already lost to mercury poisoning and recognizes the industrial lessons to be learned. It celebrates victims who are determined to embrace life and to see this Convention protect others from the same fate. The Minamata Convention traces the lifecycle of mercury to help all countries by adopting the better practices and safer alternatives that already exist. From restricting initial access to mercury and controlling its movement, to developing knowledge and technical capacity, meeting these goals will reduce health and environmental risks for people everywhere.