illuminate films, Media Release, 4 March 2026
On March 10, Banjima Traditional Owners and the filmmakers behind Walkley Award-winning documentary YURLU | COUNTRY will take part in an official United Nations (UN) Side Event at the Human Rights Council, in Geneva, Switzerland.
It comes off the back of Banjima Native Title Aboriginal Corporation (BNTAC) launching a $1.5 billion claim against the WA Government, as part of their Clean Up Wittenoom campaign, on behalf of Banjima Traditional Owners on 25 February 2026. The claim asks the court to order the WA Government to remediate Wittenoom, the largest contaminated site in the Southern Hemisphere and pay compensation to those impacted.
The UN Side Event will take place during the 61st Regular Session of the Human Rights Council (HRC61) at the Palais des Nations at 2am, 10 March AEST / 4pm, 9 March CET, with Banjima Traditional Owners travelling from the Pilbara, WA, hoping to build international pressure and momentum for their fight to heal their poisoned homelands.
“This is the beginning of the next step in the journey for us. We are following the legacy and footsteps that have been left by our Elders past and present for our community, so we can look after Country, and each other,” BNTAC Vice Chair, Johnnell Parker said.
Johnnell Parker, Vice Chair of BNTAC, will join a dialogue with Astrid Puentes Riaño, UN Special Rapporteur on the human right to a healthy environment, Ghazali Ohorella, Human Rights Legal Consultant at International Indian Treaty Council, Yves Lador, of Earthjustice, and Yaara Bou Melhem, Director of YURLU | COUNTRY, a recent Australian film about the Parker family and the Wittenoom contamination.
From 1937 until 1966, asbestos miners dumped more than three-million tonnes of mine waste laced with blue asbestos in the Ngambigunha, Wittenoom gorges in the Pilbara region of Western Australia on Banjima Country. This waste has never been remediated, despite the WA Government costing up various options and having ownership of the contaminated area since 1979. The 46,840-hectare exclusion area, that has been deemed unsafe to access and unfit for human habitation, sits on Banjima’s Native Title lands.
The Wittenoom contamination and its impacts on Traditional Owners is spotlighted in acclaimed Australian feature documentary YURLU | COUNTRY. The film follows Banjima Elder Maitland Parker’s final year as he strives to preserve his culture and heal his homeland, whilst battling mesothelioma, an aggressive cancer caused by asbestos exposure.
Banjima people have since launched the Clean Up Wittenoom campaign: www.cleanupwittenoom.com.
Further details about the UN Side Event are available here: https://www.genevaenvironmentnetwork.org/events/contribution-of-indigenous-peoples-to-the-right-to-a-healthy-and-sustainable-environment-hrc61-event/.
