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

This case deals with the destruction of the Mayan community of Río Negro by a series of massacres perpetrated by the Guatemalan army and members of the civil self-defence patrols in 1980 and 1982 which, according to the IACmHR, included the persecution and elimination of members of the Mayan community, subsequent violations directed against 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

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

Applicant, a Croatian prisoner, alleged that the prison authorities violated her rights under Article 3 of the Convention because she was not provided with adequate medical treatment and necessary medical check-ups for her illness (chronic hepatitis), nor did she receive an adequate diet or sufficient opportunity to take necessary rest. Consequently, she lost control over …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

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