Caselaw Database - All Cases

ESCR-Net Caselaw Database: A database on domestic, regional and international decisions regarding Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

This case concerns the attempted eviction of tenants of certain residential flats in Johannesburg.  These tenants had been living in these flats subject to various leases, some for nearly twenty years.  The leases contained a provision allowing either party to terminate the lease with certain notice.  Three years before the attempted evictions the landlord told the tenants to pay double or triple their rent or leave their homes. When the tenants refused, the landlord terminated their leases.

Recycling activities in Colombia have traditionally been carried out by extremely poor and marginalized sectors of society, who collect materials from landfills or inorganic waste from the streets to transport and sell them as recyclable material to intermediary informal warehouses of the national and multinational industry from refuse deposited on the street and sell it to warehouses for modest sums.

In Bogota, recyclable materials have traditionally been collected and sold by individuals and families organized into recycling associations. Recyclers are among the poorest, most marginalized members of society.

In 2002/2003, as the city of Bogota began the process of privatizing its waste collection services, recycling organizations in Bogota attempted to participate in a bidding process to compete for a waste collection and transportation contracts with the city. The recyclers were de jure precluded from competing for these contracts in big cities because they were not equity-owned, “share held corporations” as required by the law for public procurement, but rather, non-profit cooperatives of informal working poor.

The petition in this public interest litigation (PIL) case cited data from the States of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Maharashtra, regarding government practices regarding female sterilization, which lacked counseling or informed consent, lacked pre- and post-operative care, and included unhygienic and un-anesthetized operating conditions, sterilization of minors, coercion and cruelty.  The PIL requested the Court to direct the state governments to comply with the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Guidelines on Standards of Female Sterilization, enacted in October 1999 (“the Guidelines”).

This case concerns a 2009 appeal before the Constitutional Court of South Africa, brought by the Head of the Mpumalanga Department of Education (HoD).

The Sawhoyamaxa Community has historically lived in the Paraguayan Chaco. In 1991, the Community started a domestic claim to regain its lands after being forced to leave them. On May 15th, 2001, ESCR-Net Member, Tierraviva, submitted a petition to the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights. The Commission referred the case to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on February 3rd, 2005.

Jean Mouisel suffered from chronic lymphatic leukaemia. He was sentenced in 1996 to fifteen years' imprisonment for armed robbery. In 1999, while in prison, his condition deteriorated, requiring chemotherapy. He was transported to the hospital in handcuffs and claimed he was restrained during chemotherapy, though this was not proven. He stopped treatment in June 2000 citing conditions of treatment and aggressive behavior by guards.  A June 28, 2000 medical report, produced by a request of the Ministry of Justice, concluded Mouisel required treatment in a specialized clinic.

Mark Keenan received intermittent psychiatric treatment since the age of 21. At 28, Keenan was admitted to prison, initially to the prison health center. Several attempts were made to transfer him to the general population, but his mental health worsened each time. Following a transfer attempt, he assaulted two guards and his sentence was increased by twenty-eight days. The next day Keenan hung himself.

Born on 4 May 1987, LMR is a young woman living with her mother, VDA in Argentina. She has a mental impairment and has a mental age between 8 and 10 years old.. During a hospital visit she was found to be pregnant. Under section 82.6 of the Argentinean Criminal Code abortion is legal where the pregnancy is the result of the rape of a mentally impaired woman. LMR filed a police complaint and scheduled an abortion. Her abortion was prevented by an injunction against the hospital. LMR appealed unsuccessfully to the Civil Court.