Life (Right to)

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Centre for Legal Resources on behalf of Valentin Câmpeanu v. Romania¸ Application no. 47848/08

On 17th July, 2014, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) held the Romanian government accountable for violating the human rights of Valentin Câmpeanu, a youth with severe mental disabilities and HIV positive, who died in 2004. Abandoned at birth, he lived in public institutions all his life. When he turned eighteen, he was shifted to a social care home for adults, and afterwards, to a mental hospital. Here, left in isolation, and in the cold, without necessary health care and treatment, and deprived also of food and proper clothing, he died within seven days.

Premlata w/o Ram Sagar & Ors. v. Govt. of NCT Delhi, W.P.C. 7687 of 2010

This case was brought by six pregnant or lactating women who lived in poverty in a Delhi slum. The women were denied food rations, as well as prenatal and children health benefits which they were entitled to under several national benefit programs.

Rudul Sah v. State of Bihar, (1983) 4 SCC 141

Rudul Sah was arrested in 1953 on charges of murdering his wife. He was acquitted by an Additional Sessions Judge, in 1968, who directed his release from jail, pending further orders. Rudul Sah languished in jail for 14 years after his acquittal, until his plight was highlighted in the media in 1982 and led to the filing of the PIL on his behalf.

Ms. Shehla Zia v. WAPDA, PLD 1994 SC 693

A coalition of residents sent a letter of petition to the Supreme Court to challenge the Water and Power Development Authority's (WAPDA) construction of an electricity grid station in their neighborhood, on designated "green belt" property. The Court heard the matter as a human rights case, as Article 184 (3) of the Pakistan Constitution provides original jurisdiction to the Supreme Court to take up and determine any matter concerning the enforcement of fundamental rights of public importance.

In the matter of Article 26 of the Constitution and the Health (Amendment) (No.2) Bill 2004, [2005] I.E.S.C. 7 (Ir.)

In 2005, under the Article 26 procedure of the Constitution, the Irish Supreme Court reviewed the constitutionality of a bill referred to it by the President. This bill authorized charges for in-patient services, provided by the public health service, to be imposed on certain people, in most cases, elderly people of limited means.

Indivisibility, State positive obligations and litigation before the UN Human Rights Committee

The last two months were marked by discussions held before the UN Human Rights Committee (HRC) on the indivisibility of human rights, as well as on the positive obligations of States in relation to civil rights, such as the right to life. Such discussions will...

Ensuring the right to life for all by recognizing its ESCR content

On July 14, 2015, the Human Rights Committee will hold a general discussion aimed at developing a General Comment on Article 6, expanding upon its earlier General Comments No. 6 and 14 (from...

Court on Its Own Motion v. Union of India (W.P. 5913/2010 )

Following a newspaper report regarding a destitute woman who died on a busy street four days after giving birth to a baby girl, the Court brought this public interest litigation (PIL) on its own motion. The Court also asked the Human Rights Law Network (HRLN), an ESCR-Net member organization, to file an amicus brief on the status of maternal health for destitute pregnant and lactating women in Delhi, and to suggest appropriate remedies. HRLN’s amicus outlined myriad state failures to implement government schemes providing for food and health services to women and marginalized groups.

Case of the Indigenous Community Xákmok Kásek v. Paraguay

The Xákmok Kásek indigenous community, who has originally lived in the Paraguayan Chaco area, filed a petition before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights requesting acknowledgement of their traditional territory. Paraguay sold and split up the land without taking into consideration the indigenous population. The Salazar ranch was founded in the land that had been the home of the Xákmok Kásek community for years. The community’s ability to survive and to develop its way of life was restricted, and the State failed to fulfill its duty to guarantee the community’s territorial rights.

Tutela action filed by Orlando José Morales Ramos against Drummond Ltd.

Colombia's Constitutional Court reviewed a tutela action case (action seeking protection of constitutional rights) which looked into whether the mining operations of the company Drummond had violated the rights to life, to a healthy environment, to privacy and to health of a citizen and his family living near the Pribbenow open-pit mine, located in La Loma, municipality of El Paso, department of Cesar, in the North of Colombia. Based in the United States, Drummond develops and processes coal in both the US and Colombia.