Environmental rights, right?

Human Rights Day serves to commemorate atrocities committed during the apartheid era and remind South Africans where we came from and what we have achieved as a nation since the start of our relatively new democracy.

Our constitution now has a bill of rights which includes things such as the rights to equality, freedom of expression and freedom of movement and residence. All of these rights are in place to help prevent another Sharpeville type massacre and similar discriminatory violence from occurring again.

Whilst all of the rights should be equally upheld, I feel that they are not and some rights are given preference to others. One of the rights that I feel very strongly about is number 24 in the South African constitution’s bill of rights: Environment. This right states that everyone has the right

a. to an environment that is not harmful to their health or well-being; and
b. to have the environment protected, for the benefit of present and future generations, through reasonable legislative and other measures that ­
i. prevent pollution and ecological degradation;
ii. promote conservation; and
iii.secure ecologically sustainable development and use of natural resources while promoting justifiable economic and social development.

This right is not being suitably enforced by our government and by not doing so it automatically infringes on some of the other rights. Very little is being done to prevent pollution and ecological degradation or to promote conservation in our country. Previously protected areas are being plundered for the sake of mining and the people living in these very remote, rural areas are being forced to move. This infringes on the freedom of movement and residence right. Mines are also being set up next to important National heritage sites such as at Mapongupwe, with very little or even no regard to the environmental damage that it will cause the area, let alone the heritage site.

Although housing, health care and similar issues take (or are hopefully taking) priority in the government’s agenda, these should be dealt with in a manner which secures sustainable development, encourages environmental education (education is also one of the rights) and start to see the environment as something which without we are unable to live (life also being a constitutional right). Once our environment and natural resources has been destroyed it will undoubtedly lead to warfare and violence, infringing even further on a variety of other human rights. So, it is obvious that the environment section in the bill of rights is one which should be fiercely protected in order to protect the other rights which it has an effect on.