A/HRC/41/43/Add.2 main roads and public installation. In this context, during a demonstration in August 2014, villagers were beaten by security guards and the police, and some of the villagers alleged that they still suffered from their injuries. The Working Group encouraged the company not to rely only on the police to investigate wrongdoing, but also to conduct its own investigations and strengthen its own training and oversight mechanisms, including effective grievance mechanisms. D. Human rights defenders and civic space 49. Human rights defenders can provide critical information regarding adverse businessrelated impacts, and should be a key part of business consultation processes and stakeholder engagement. However, human rights defenders and witnesses confessed to the Working Group that they faced growing obstacles to exercising their activities, due to repeated threats and attacks when denouncing business-related human rights concerns. Such reprisals comprise intimidation, termination of employment, beatings, arrests and malicious prosecution. 50. The Working Group urges the Government to adopt and implement effective measures to protect human rights defenders to ensure that they can carry out their work without fear of harassment, violence or intimidation, including a national policy on human rights defenders. Operationalizing the Public Benefit Organizations Act of 2013 would help to create an environment conducive to the work of the civil society and human rights defenders and provide them with adequate protection of their rights (A/HRC/29/10, paras. 142.125, 142.128 and 143.51). In parallel, the experts call on the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to systematically activate protection mechanisms for witnesses after the review of a complaint regarding such a situation. They also urge business associations to raise awareness among businesses on the important roles played by human rights defenders. Lead poisoning in Owino Uhuru 51. In Mombasa, the Working Group visited the Owino Uhuru settlement, where leadacid battery recycling factory, Metal Refinery EPZ, which had operated between 2009 and 2014, had contaminated the adjacent settlement and the blood of residents with high levels of lead. The contamination had serious health impacts, particularly on children living in the area. Dozens of people from this settlement are reported to have died, and hundreds suffer from debilitating diseases based on severe contamination. 52. The Working Group learned about residents’ struggle to get support from the Government, including to gain access to information and to have blood tests and be medically treated. As an illustration, the National Environment Management Authority had refused to disclose the outcomes of a study conducted in 2013 on affected residents, arguing that the information was confidential. The report, whose disclosure was finally ordered by the Commission on Administrative Justice, showed high lead concentrations. This situation prompted other studies, including one by a parliamentary committee in 2015, which subsequently issued recommendations to the competent authorities. The Working Group encourages the national Government and the municipal government to comply with these recommendations, supported by the community members. Moreover, all community members should be tested for lead poisoning and those affected should be provided with appropriate treatment in a nearby hospital. Pending hospital bills for related treatment of community members should be waived and the community land and soil cleared. 53. Local residents, with the support of civil society, have filed a class action against the Government and the company. In this context, several community members have faced threats for seeking legal redress. On 30 May 2018, the Working Group issued a public statement to call for the protection of these human rights defenders. 46 The experts welcomed the fact that the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions had subsequently ordered protection measures for witnesses in the ongoing court case. 46 12 Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), “UN experts urge Kenya to protect environmental defenders”, 30 May 2018.