Court Embraces Right to a Healthy Environment in the Americas

Expand San Andres island. © 2015 Marcos Orellana “A clean environment is a fundamental right for the existence of humanity,” proclaimed the Inter-American Court of Human Rights last week, the first time the court explicitly outlined some of the key components of the right to a healthy environment. The court affirmed that the American Convention on Human Rights, a regional treaty obliging states parties to respect rights, protects the right to a healthy environment. Colombia had requested this opinion from the court in 2016, expressing concerns about the threat posed by large-scale infrastructure…

© Human Rights Watch - mercredi 14 février 2018