The court to which the 'mother courage' of the girl who died from pollution clings

Ella Kissi-Debrah was just nine years old when she tragically passed away in 2013 due to “acute respiratory failure” brought on by 27 asthma attacks. It took her determined mother, Rosamund, seven years to fight and finally win a legal battle, resulting in the judge officially acknowledging that Ella’s death was caused by “excessive exposure to pollution” in south London, now stated on her death certificate.

Now, the tenacious mother, who is also a teacher and activist, is taking her fight further and suing the British Government, demanding “the human right to clean air”. She holds the Department of the Environment, Transport, and Health accountable for permitting nitrogen dioxide levels far above the maximum recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).

“It was a shocking revelation for me to discover that my daughter was breathing toxic air equivalent to that of someone passively smoking 10 or 15 cigarettes a day,” admits Rosamund, who resides just 25 meters away from the highly polluted South Circular route in London. “Had I known this information earlier, perhaps I could have tried to move house, but I only learned all of this after her death and after spending the last two years of her life in and out of the hospital.”

“No child, regardless of their country, should lose their life to asthma or respiratory complications caused by pollution,” warns Rosamund, who established a foundation to honor her daughter’s memory and was honored by King Charles last year for her activism. She has been recognized as a BreatheLife ambassador by the WHO and, along with Spanish doctor María Neira, will organize the second world conference on Air Pollution and Health in Accra next autumn.

Their current endeavor is to secure recognition of the “right to clean air” in court, establish legal precedents, and compel politicians to take action. Their demand is actually supported by the Human Rights Act of 1998, pioneered by the Labor Party at the time but recently questioned by the Conservative Party.

“If you breathe polluted air, you can develop asthma, cancer, or even shorten your lifespan, just as if you were exposed to tobacco smoke,” emphasizes Rosamund, citing WHO statistics that reveal pollution’s contribution to seven million premature deaths. “Everyone cares about their own health and that of their children—no one wishes to die.”

Lawyer Ravi Mehta from Hodge Jones & Allen represents Rosamund in her lawsuit against the Government and recently appeared in a preliminary hearing. While the lawsuit includes compensation for damages estimated at 340,000 euros, their primary objective is to bring justice for Ella’s untimely death and expose the actions and negligence of three government departments throughout the years.

Initially, Colin Thomann, the government’s defense attorney, challenged the lawsuit in its entirety and argued that the potential damages were overestimated. A spokesperson for the Department of the Environment highlighted the improvements in air quality in British cities since 2010 while acknowledging that there is still work to be done.

Rosamund, who is now a candidate for the Green Party in the London Assembly, is also fighting a political battle by rallying support for the proposed “She’s Law”, named in honor of her daughter. The legislation aims to recognize clean air as a “human right” and has garnered over 10,000 signatures, including those from numerous experts. It sets the ambitious goal of meeting the WHO’s maximum pollution levels by 2030.