References to occupational exposures Challenges faced by workers pollution that the yards generate. enforcement gaps • Exploitation of those most at risk • Informal economy • Opaque supply chains and the transfer of hazardous work High unemployment rates, decreases in living standards and lack of social protection force a large number of individuals to leave their villages to search for employment opportunities and a better standard of living abroad. About 400,000 citizens leave the country every year. Most choose to migrate, both legally and illegally, to Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation, where they are at risk of occupations. • Exploitation of those most at risk • Inadequate standards of protection Risks to agricultural workers from obsolete, prohibited or poor quality pesticides, such as DDT manufactured in China, were noted with concern. Such highly hazardous pesticides reportedly continued to be illegally imported into, and exported out of, the country due to the lack of adequate controls at the borders with China and Tajikistan. Such highly hazardous pesticides were noted as being frequently unlabelled, or are labelled with information that farmers or agricultural workers cannot read either because they are not in the worker’s local language or because of insufficient literacy. • Monitoring and enforcement gaps • Failures to realize the right to information Electronic and electrical appliances contain hundreds of different substances, many of which are highly toxic and pose significant risks to human health and the environment if they are not managed and disposed of in an environmentally sound manner. In developing countries, the vast majority of obsolete electrical and electronic equipment is dismantled in small-scale, informal workshops that separate their various components (i.e. plastic, ferrous metals, non-ferrous metals, glass) for recycling or reuse. During the process of breaking down old computers and other hightech devices, workers are exposed to hazardous substances, including toxic heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, beryllium and mercury, hazardous chemicals, such as brominated flame retardants, and other toxic plastic additives. Furthermore, unusable parts are usually disposed of in landfills or burned, causing widespread and long-lasting contamination of soil, air and surface and groundwater resources. The report notes with concern the problems posed by pesticides in developing countries, due to the large number of persons employed in the agricultural sector, weak or non-existent regulatory regimes and little public awareness of the potential health and environmental harm caused by pesticide exposure. It is reported that as many as 25 million agricultural workers suffer serious or irreversible work-related diseases, including several forms of cancer, endocrine system disruption and reproductive and neurological disorders, linked to long-term exposure to hazardous pesticides. Lead in paint was noted as a major source of lead exposure of workers and others. Inhalation of lead-contaminated house dust is the most common exposure pathway to lead-based paint for children and adults alike. However, residential renovation and paint removal can be significant sources of lead exposure for construction workers as well as residents. Dry sanding, abrasive blasting, and burning, welding, or heating surfaces covered with lead paint typically generate highly dangerous airborne lead levels. “Mission to Kyrgyzstan” (A/HRC/15/22/Add.2) (2010) Studies showed accumulation of highly toxic mercury in various tissues and parts of the body A/HRC/39/48 28 Report