ENVIRONMENT AND HUMAN RIGHTS

Abstract

All over the world, people are experiencing the effects of ecosystem decline, from water shortages to fish kills to landslides on deforested slopes. The victims of environmental degradation tend to belong to more vulnerable sectors of society – ethnic minorities and the poor – who regularly carry a disproportionate burden of such abuse. Increasingly, many basic human rights are being placed at risk, as the right to health affected by contamination of resources, or the right to property and culture compromised by commercial intrusion into indigenous lands. As far back as 1968, the UN General Assembly had adopted a resolution acknowledging the relationship between the environment and human rights. It has been widely accepted that environmental degradation adversely affects the enjoyment of human rights such as the right to life and right to health. Since 1992, the right to a healthy environment (or a related formulation) has been formally recognized by several countries in their national constitutions. In the Indian context, though the protection of the environment figures in the chapter on Directive Principles (which are non-justifiable) the Supreme Court by its interpretation has elevated the right to a clean and healthy environment to the status of a fundamental right within the meaning of ‘right to life’ under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.