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Youth Dialogue 2025
The Youth Dialogue on Mercury is an initiative of the Ministry of the Environment, Japan: the programme started in 2021 to encourage dialogue among youths from Minamata and other parts of the world
News
Council of Europe adopts new Convention on environmental crime, including mercury-related offences
On 14 May 2025, the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers adopted a new Convention on the Protection of the Environment through Criminal Law, the first international legally binding instrument
Highlights
Read now: Free trade zones, trans-shipment and multilateral environmental agreements
Explore the information note from the Green Customs Initiative, featuring contributions from the Minamata Convention secretariat, especially on the consent procedure for the import of mercury.
Special event
Minamata Convention at 2025 BRS COPs
The 2025 meetings of the Conferences of the Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions (BRS COPs), was held in Geneva from 28 April to 9 May 2025.
Highlights
Minamata Convention Updates: May newsletter
Explore the highlights of the participation of the Minamata Convention at the 2025 BRSCOPs, from high-level roundtables and bilateral meetings, to technical side events and key mercury outcomes.
News
Experts discuss digital cooperation to advance SDGs on chemicals and waste
At the 2025 BRS COPs, a side event highlighted the transformative potential of digital platforms like InforMEA in advancing sustainable development goals (SDGs) through enhanced cooperation and inf
News
Multilateral Environmental Agreements exchange with the GEF
In a step toward integrated global environmental action, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) hosted the first GEF–MEA Exchange on the margins of the 2025 Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Convention
News
Global Mercury Partnership organizes a side event on mercury waste
At the 2025 BRS COPs, a side event focused on mercury in products, including mercury waste, a typical area of synergies between the Minamata and Basel Conventions.
News
From invisible threats to visible solutions: High-level leaders unite at 2025 BRS COPs to advance synergies for a healthier planet
Highlights from the high-level side event “Integrating chemicals and waste management into biodiversity conservation – the power of synergies” at the 2025 BRS COPs.
About the Minamata Convention
The Minamata Convention on Mercury is the most recent global agreement on environment and health, adopted in 2013. It is named after the bay in Japan where, in the mid-20th century, mercury-tainted industrial wastewater poisoned thousands of people, leading to severe health damage that became known as the "Minamata disease."
Since it entered into force on 16 August 2017, Parties have been working together to control the mercury supply and trade, reduce the use, emission and release of mercury, raise public awareness, and build the necessary institutional capacity to #MakeMercuryHistory