This report addresses the admissibility of a petition that alleged the United States failed to fulfill its obligations under the American Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man (the Declaration) and the American Convention on Human Rights (the Convention), including protection of the right to health and equality before law. Mossville, Louisiana is a …Read more

The Public Ombudsman brought a preventive action against the Ministry of Housing, Zoning and the Environment and the Municipal Government of Montevideo, for lead contamination in the soil of the neighborhood of La Teja. The contamination was discovered in 2001, and a number of measures were taken by relevant public agencies and by the executive …Read more

Petitioners alleged that environmental pollution from a metallurgical complex in La Oroya, Peru caused a series of violations of the rights of community members. They alleged Peru was guilty by act and omission for its failure to control the metallurgical complex; its lack of supervision of the facility’s operation; and its failure to adopt measures …Read more

The complainants, two human rights organizations based in Sudan, the United Kingdom and Canada, alleged gross and systematic violations of human rights on the part of the Republic of Sudan and Government-supported militia forces in the Darfur region against indigenous tribes, including the Fur, Marsalit and Zaghawa. The organizations alleged that since General Omar Al-Bashir …Read more

The petitioners were pastoralists and communal landowners in the Baringo District in Rift Valley Province, Kenya. The petitioners alleged that the respondents (the Attorney-General, the Minister for Environmental and Natural Resources, the National Environment Management Authority, and the County Council of Baringo) were liable for violating their rights to life (under Section 71 of the …Read more

Residents of the Matanza-Riachulo river basin brought a class action against the National State, the Province of Buenos Aires, and the city of Buenos Aires, as well as a number of businesses, for injuries resulting from pollution of the area. A lengthy information collecting process began in 2006. The Supreme Court of Argentina found that …Read more

The Appellant, a former Member of Parliament, filed a writ petition in the High Court of Bangladesh against the Government and other public authorities for their failure to comply with the Environment Conservation Act 1995 and the Environment Conservation Rules 1997. The petition alleged that there was widespread arsenic contamination in tube wells across the …Read more

Petitioners filed a Writ of Mandamus action against the Ministry of Health and DIGESA (the General Directorate of Environmental Health) before the Superior Court of Justice of Lima, requesting that the court order Respondents to design and implement a strategy for public health emergencies for the city of La Oroya, pursuant to articles 96, 97, …Read more

Applicants, residents of Iwherekan community in the Delta State of Nigeria, applied for an order enforcing their fundamental right to life and dignity of human person as provided by sections 22(1) and 34(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (the “Constitution”) and articles 4, 16, and 24 of the African Charter …Read more

The applicants lived in the area near Ovacik where the Normandy Madencilik A.Ş company built a gold mine.  The Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources issued a permit for the mine in 1992 for ten years. The Ministry also authorized the use of cyanide leaching during the gold extraction. Following the Environmental Act, the Ministry …Read more