A/HRC/44/54 towns or in so-called currutelas, which are bars made from wooden planks located within mining areas, whose owners pay a fee to criminal groups to be able to operate. 47. OHCHR received reports that children as young as seven were present in mining areas, often unaccompanied, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation. Sources also reported children as young as 9 or 10 working in the mines. 48. The Pan American Health Organization identified mining municipalities in the Bolívar State as the main cause of an increase in malaria cases in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela since 2015. 37 Pools of stagnant and polluted water resulting from mining activity have become malaria breeding grounds, also causing skin diseases. Former miners interviewed by OHCHR reported having suffered from malaria while living in Arco Minero del Orinoco. Local authorities informed OHCHR that thanks to joint efforts by international organizations and the State regarding vector control programmes and increased availability of antimalarial drugs, malaria cases had decreased in the second half of 2019. Malaria and other treatable conditions, such as diarrhoea, and diseases that can be prevented through vaccination, such as measles, are rampant among the indigenous population. They are often fatal, since communities often have little or no access to appropriate treatment. 49. Another serious effect on health and the environment in Arco Minero del Orinoco is contamination from the widespread use of mercury. Despite its nationwide prohibition as a method for obtaining or processing minerals, OHCHR was informed that chemical mercury was widely used in the region to separate gold from other minerals, a task that is often carried out by women. 38 Once its alloy with gold is produced, it is burned and the volatilized mercury is breathed in by miners and people living in the area. Mercury is also poured into the ground and then carried into rivers by rainwater. High levels of mercury have thus been detected in indigenous communities living downstream from Arco Minero del Orinoco.39 Fluvial mercury contamination has a disproportionate impact on women who spend much of their time in direct contact with water, including carrying out household duties. This exposes them to greater health hazards, which are of particular concern for pregnant women because of the potential neurological effects to fetuses. 50. Miners and others living in surrounding communities also suffer from high levels of violence. According to the Government, in 2019, the Bolívar State registered 36 homicides per 100,000, while the non-governmental organization Observatorio Venezolano de Violencia (Venezuelan Observatory of Violence) registered 84 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants.40 According to the Government, the registered rates of homicide per 100,000 inhabitants in the mining municipalities of El Callao, Roscio and Sifontes were 94, 109 and 64, respectively.41 51. Criminal and armed groups use violence to exercise control over mining areas. Interviewees reported that harsh corporal punishments are inflicted upon those not complying with the rules imposed by these groups. Reported examples of this occurred from 2018 to 2020, and include a miner beaten in public for stealing a gas cylinder; a young man shot in both hands for stealing a gram of gold; a woman beaten with sticks for stealing a phone from a sindicato member; and a miner having a hand cut off for not declaring a gold nugget. 52. Punishment also includes killings. For instance, OHCHR received information about two male teenagers who were executed on the grounds that they were alleged infiltrators from another sindicato; a 27-year-old miner killed by a member of a sindicato for allegedly having an affair with his wife; and a young man killed for allegedly stealing 25 grams of gold. According to accounts received by OHCHR, bodies of miners are regularly thrown into old mining pits used as clandestine graves. OHCHR documented five cases of people who were reported to have disappeared while working in the mines from 2016 to 2020. 37 38 39 40 41 10 Pan American Health Organization, “PAHO’s response to maintaining an effective technical cooperation agenda in Venezuela and neighboring member States”, document CD57/INF/7, 30 August 2019. Decree No. 2,412 of 5 August 2016. Alejandro Álvarez, Mercurio: Otro asesino oculto en Venezuela, 26 September 2019. https://observatoriodeviolencia.org.ve/informes/informe-anual-de-violencia/ (in Spanish). The Venezuelan Observatory of Violence registered the rate of homicide per 100,000 inhabitants as follows: El Callao (368); Roscio (221); and Sifontes (175).