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

Mr. Syed Mansoor Ali Shah petitioned the High Court at Lahore, asserting that air pollution from vehicular emissions had severely affected human life by causing citizens to suffer diseases. Under Rule 163 of the Provincial Motor Vehicles Rules 1969, the owner of a vehicle was required by law to properly maintain the vehicle so that it did not cause damage or annoyance to …Read more

The applicants were a group that advocates for improvement of Hong Kong’s air quality. They alleged that the Hong Kong government did not enact adequate legislation or effective policy to combat air pollution and that this failure was a breach of the government’s legal duty to ensure the right to life and the right to …Read more

The four applicants alleged that pollution levels near their homes violated their right to respect for their private and family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (“Convention”). All the applicants lived within a “sanitary security zone” around a local steel plant and were exposed to concentrations of dangerous substances above …Read more

The applicants in this case were the wife and children of Mr. I.M. who was diagnosed with icterus and went through investigations and treatment. After being hospitalized, it was confirmed that he had “cholestatic jaundice due to cholestatic calculus – left renal lithiasis clinically significant for approximately three days”; he and his family hadn’t been …Read more

The Respondent, Monsanto Chemicals of India, was engaged in the formulation of herbicides in India. In accordance with the Insecticide Act, 1968, the Respondent had been granted statutory approval by the Central Insecticides Board. Mangesh G. Salodkar, the Petitioner was employed at Monsanto’s establishment at Lonavala. Soon after taking voluntary retirement, he suffered a brain …Read more

The Petitioners, including Praveen Rashtrapal, filed this public interest litigation in the Gujarat High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution (original writ jurisdiction of High Courts). The petition was filed on behalf of sewage cleaners (cleaners) in and around the City of Ahmadabad. The Petitioners claimed that the right to life and health of …Read more

About one hundred residents of the Kiserian township were approved to construct residential-cum-commercial buildings by county officials, including health officials. A public health officer investigated reports of “indiscriminate discharge of offensive smelling waste matters within the trading centre flowing out of various premises into open channels along the road to the environment and to the …Read more

Plaintiffs sought a permanent injunction to prevent Defendants from continuing to construct a slaughterhouse situated next to their homes, claiming that such construction violated certain environmental statutory provisions and Plaintiffs’ basic right to a clean and healthy environment. The slaughterhouse was almost completely built but had not started operating at the time of the suit. …Read more

The Petitioners sought to require the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board and the Department of Transport and Communications to use compressed natural gas (CNG) in their public utility vehicles. They alleged that particulate matter emitted from vehicles had caused serious health problems and lowered the overall quality of life, and contended that this problem …Read more

In 1996, the National Power Corporation (NPC) began building towers to support high tension cables for a power transmission project. The transmission lines ran through the Dasmarinas Village, where the Petitioners lived. The Petitioners, fearing the health effects of the towers, discovered studies linking high rates of cancer and other illnesses with exposure to electromagnetic …Read more

Petitioner was an inmate in a State prison who filed a Writ of Amparo challenging the administrative regulation that exempted inmates from the prohibition to smoke inside cells and other closed, indoor environments within prisons. In his submission, plaintiff contended the regulation (of infra-legal hierarchy status) was unconstitutional as it forcibly exposed him to tobacco …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

Brun claimed a violation of Article 2 (right to remedy), Article 6 (right to life) and Article 17 (right to privacy) of the International Covenant Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Brun argued that Article 17 should be interpreted to include the right to live in a healthy environment. He had been sentenced for demonstrating against …Read more

The applicant, an Italian national, claimed the government violated Article 8 (respect for private and family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights when its authorities failed to implement a court order to suspend a waste treatment plant because of its permanent effects on her health and home. The applicant was living in a …Read more

This case was originally brought before the First Chamber of the Contentious Administrative Tribunal by a group of organizations of the Amazon Basin in Ecuador who were challenging the fact that Colombia was fumigating with glyphosate (within their plan to eradicate coca) within a 10-km strip from the border of Colombia and Ecuador. The organizations …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 Plaintiffs were lessees of Plot No.151-A, Block-II, PECHS Karachi (the plot), a residential complex. The lessor was the Ministry of Housing and Works, who was impleaded as Defendant No. 4 in the suit. The lease deed had a restrictive covenant which prevented the land from being converted from residential to commercial uses even after …Read more

Ten Turkish nationals filed suit against the Republic of Turkey alleging violation of their right to a fair hearing under the Article 6 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (the “Convention”). Plaintiffs alleged administrative authorities had failed to enforce court orders to shut down three thermal power plants in …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

The applicant was a Russian national who lived in Cherepovets, a major steel-producing centre. The Severstal steel plant was built in Soviet times and owned originally by the Ministry of Black Metallurgy of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR). In her application against the Russian Federation under Article 34 of the Convention for the …Read more

The plaintiff alleges that Greece failed to comply with its obligation to protect public health against air pollution of the  European Social Charter by allowing the operate of lignite mines and power stations without taking all necessary steps to reduce this impact. The MFHR bases its claim on studies of particulate matter that show that …Read more

The plaintiff, Asociación Vecinal Belgrano C Manuel Belgrano, filed a guarantee of protection of individual constitutional rights (amparo protection) against the Government of the City of Buenos Aires and Metrovías S.A so that they performed the corresponding measures to stop the noise pollution generated in the Metro C and Metro D, that damaged the passengers health. …Read more

The case concerned a claim that the sale of PepsiCo and Coca-Cola carbonated beverages should be banned on the account that they are contaminated with pesticide residue and suspended impurities and are therefore harmful to human life. The petitioners relied on the report published by the Centre for Science and Environment (“CSE”), which conducted an …Read more

The case was regarding multiple suo moto orders issued by the Rajasthan High Court to the municipal authorities of the city of Jaipur to clean-up, restore and maintain the city which was plagued with trash, open sewage and polluted water bodies. Specific orders were issued to remove and dispose of the plastic and polyethylene bags …Read more

The government of Uganda issued a 50 year permit to Kakira Sugar Works Ltd (the company) for growing sugar cane on the Butamira Forest Reserve. This amounted to defacto degazetting of the protected land. The company failed to conduct an Environmental Impact Assessment. Once the company had the permit, it tried to clear the existing …Read more

The applicants sought orders of certiorari and prohibition of enforcement of a notice and multiple letters attesting to the fact that the Kenya Ports Authority (the “KPA”) authorized only two firms to operate as sludge removal firms in the port of Mombasa. The applicants ran businesses that removed sludge from ships docking in the Port …Read more

A household-rubbish tip, or dump, was created in the Ümraniye district of Istanbul. Illegal dwellings were constructed around the rubbish tip. A report found that the rubbish tip posed health risks and the possibility of explosion. In April 1993 there was a methane explosion which triggered a landslide. Nine of the applicants’ family members were …Read more

This report addresses the admissibility of a petition that alleged Peru failed to fulfill its obligations under the American Convention on Human Rights (the Convention). The Petitioner was the National Coordinator of Communities of Peru Affected by Mining (CONACAMI), representing members of the Community of San Mateo de Huanchor, in their claim that the State …Read more