The applicants’ claim was based on s. 27(1)(b) of the Constitution – the right to sufficient food and water, which they submitted found further expression in the provisions of the Water Services Act 108 of 1997 (“WSA”). Their complaint argued that farm occupiers and labour tenants, especially the applicants, lacked “access to sufficient water, basic …Read more

The governor of the Miyazaki Prefecture granted permission for a company that collects, transports, and disposes of industrial waste to establish an industrial waste treatment facility. When the company applied for permission, it submitted a document called the “Environmental Impact Survey Report,” which detailed the survey results regarding the impact of the establishment of the …Read more

B, a Romanian national, was sentenced to ten years in prison for fraud by the Court of Appeal of Timisoara. In January 2003 B lodged an application with the European Court of Human Rights based on the conditions of his detention in the prisons of Arad and Timisoara. B alleged that Romania violated Article 3 (prohibition of torture) of the European …Read more

The plaintiff, Eugen Gabriel Radu, a Romanian national, applied to the European Court of Human Rights claiming that the conditions in the Romanian prison Bucarest-Jilava violated Article 3 of the European Convention of Human Rights, which prohibits torture and inhumane or degrading treatment. The plaintiff was sentenced in 2001 and again in 2006 for aggravated …Read more

The plaintiff, Marian Stoicescu, a Romanian national, applied to the European Court of Human Rights in 2002 alleging that the conditions in the Romanian prison Bucarest-Jilava violated Article 3 of the European Convention of Human Rights, prohibiting torture and inhumane or degrading treatment. In 2000, the plaintiff was sentenced to 8 years in prison for …Read more

In May 2007, the State of Panama, without community consultation, granted a concession for the construction of a hydroelectric dam within the traditional lands of an indigenous community, the Ngöbe. Although the construction of the dam was still in its initial stages at the time the petition was filed, the petitioner alleged that the work …Read more

This was an appeal from an order of the South Gauteng High Court. The Applicants were members of the Harry Gwala Informal Settlement (Settlement). They approached the High Court for an order against the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (Municipality) to install communal water taps, temporary sanitation facilities, refuse removal facilitation and high-mast lighting in key areas, …Read more

Tanzania was awarded funding from the World Bank to repair, upgrade, and expand the water and sewage infrastructure of Dar es Salaam. As a condition of the funding, Tanzania was required to appoint a private company to manage and operate the infrastructure improvements. The plaintiff, a British and German company named Biwater Gauff (“BGT”), won …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

Applicants were residents of Kyambogo Lower Estate, where they used a common facility for sanitation in the form of septic tanks. The channels leading to those tanks were located on a road reserve and the Respondent intended to erect a perimeter fence around that road reserve. Respondent was given an offer, containing certain terms and …Read more