WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised the following article contains the name of an Indigenous person who has died.
Western Austrlia's Banjima people's fight for Country has been taken to the United Nations.
Earlier this month, Banjma Traditional Owner Johnnell Parker was joined in Geneva by Walkely-winning filmmaker Yaara Bou Melhem to discuss the historic asbestos contamination of tens of thousands of hectares in the Pilbara, contributing to a side event at the UN's 61st Regular Session of the Human Rights Council.
The pair also received the Vision for Human Rights Award at the International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights (FIFDH) awarded to Yurlu | Country, a legacy film directed by Ms Bou Melhem in honour of the late Maitland Parker, Johnnell Parker's uncle and widely-respected advocate for cleaning up his Country.
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In February, the Banjima Native Title Aboriginal Corporation (BNTAC) formally launched a $1.5 billion legal claim against the Western Australian government in the Federal Court.
For decades state governments have resisted calls to clean up the legacy of asbestos contamination left by mining at Wittenoom, 1,400 kilometres north-east of Boorloo.
The Pilbara town was closed in 1978 and millions of tonnes of blue asbestos waste still surround three abandoned mines nearby. 46,000 hectares of Banjima Native Title land is quarantined because of the deadly contamination.
It's considered the largest contaminated site in the Southern Hemisphere.
Yurlu | Country documents the final months of Maitland Parker's life before his passing through illness linked to the asbestos tailings.
"This month, I was proud to present at the United Nations and share the devastating impacts of Wittenoom, and the lasting effects it has had on our Country and community," Johnnell Parker told National Indigenous Tmes.
"This has been a pivotal step for Banjima, bringing global attention to our legal case and strengthening support for #CleanUpWittenoom."
Speaking at the UN side event, International Indian Treaty Council legal consultant, Ghazali Ohorella, said a system which chooses industry over Indigenous lives produces "predictable, inevitable" results, or "environmental violence".
BNTAC says change can't happen without public pressure.
The CleanUpWitenoom campaign pleads for others to walk with Banjima in their battle.
They say asbestos contamination on their Country has already caused sickness, cultural loss and devastating impact on the environment, and threatens to worsen without action.
"As Uncle Maitland Parker said 'I still cry for Country, but that's embedded in me I just can't walk away from it'," Johnnell Parker said at the time of the legal proceedings launching.
"Despite the damage, our Elders have raised us to be strong and resilient. We carry in our hearts their strength as we continue the fight, to heal our Country, to protect it, and to ensure future generations can stand on healthy land and remain connected to who they are."
Ms Bou Melhem said Banjima's fight resonates deeply with those who learn their story, including to those in Geneva,
"This is such a huge milestone moment for the film that we made with Banjima Elder Maitland Parker and his people's campaign to clean up their Country. Yurlu | Country is a profoundly personal story about Maitland Parker, his love of family, his Country and his willingness to fight for them to the very end," she told National Indigenous Times.
"It's a story we can all relate to and we found it resonated deeply with those who participated with us on the UN Side Event and at FIFDH - one of the world's greatest human rights film festivals.
"We hope Maitland would be proud that people in Geneva felt connected to him and appear determined to continue to spotlight Banjima people's struggle for Country on the global stage."
In December the film picked up the 2025 Walkley Documentary Award.
It was also awarded Best Feature Documentary at this month's Australian International Documentary Conference Awards.
FIFDH's Vision for Human Rights Award Jury Statement read Yurlu | Country "shows clearly how human and environmental rights violations compound and intersect through corporate impunity and government complicity in abnegation of human rights obligations".
"In the face of a new rush to exploitation, extraction and encroachment everywhere, its urgency is undeniable," the statement read.
Additional reporting by Giovanni Torre.
