The contours of the relationship between the environment and human rights as underpinned by countries’ constitutions and relevant human rights and environmental legal instruments are becoming increasingly clearer. How a country constitutionalises the human right to a clean, safe, healthy, and satisfactory environment as it is variously referred to, has implications for its adjudication. The constitutions of Kenya, South Africa, and Cameroon guarantee the human right to a healthy environment. Still, they do so in varying magnitudes such that the level of protection and the legal mechanisms for its adjudication are different is arguably, not the same in these countries. Except for Kenya and South Africa which have put in place an enabling legal mechanism for the adjudication of the right and whose courts are notable for being quite progressive in human rights protection and in upholding the right to a healthy environment in particular, Cameroon is not known to be a bastion of human rights protection. Whether an enabling legal mechanism for adjudicating the human right to a healthy environment exists in Cameroon as in Kenya and South Africa is thought-provoking and warrants investigation. This chapter investigates how these countries have constitutionalised the human right to a healthy environment and determined the legal mechanisms put in place for its adjudication. The chapter builds on relevant primary data notably, the countries' constitutions and case law to analyse the content and approach of the constitutional underpinnings of the human right to a healthy environment in these countries and the enabling legal environment for the adjudication of the right. The analysis is complemented by a doctrinal review of secondary data. It reveals that the constitutionalisation of the right to a healthy environment in Kenya and South Africa is more comprehensive with a corresponding enabling legal environment for its adjudication which has led to the judiciary upholding and sanctioning violations of the right. It further reveals that unlike Kenya and South Africa, the constitutionalisation of the right to a healthy environment in Cameroon is less comprehensive and there is a limited enabling legal environment for the adjudication of the right due to restricted locus standi and restricted judicial fora for the enforcement of environmental rights which limit the Cameroonian courts from adjudicating on this crucial right Based on the findings, the chapter recommends the creation of an enabling legal mechanism to adjudicate on the rights in Cameroon.

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The Constitutionalisation of the Human Right to a Healthy Environment and the Legal Mechanisms for Its Adjudication in Cameroon: Lessons from Kenya and South Africa

  • Gideon Fosoh Ngwome

摘要

The contours of the relationship between the environment and human rights as underpinned by countries’ constitutions and relevant human rights and environmental legal instruments are becoming increasingly clearer. How a country constitutionalises the human right to a clean, safe, healthy, and satisfactory environment as it is variously referred to, has implications for its adjudication. The constitutions of Kenya, South Africa, and Cameroon guarantee the human right to a healthy environment. Still, they do so in varying magnitudes such that the level of protection and the legal mechanisms for its adjudication are different is arguably, not the same in these countries. Except for Kenya and South Africa which have put in place an enabling legal mechanism for the adjudication of the right and whose courts are notable for being quite progressive in human rights protection and in upholding the right to a healthy environment in particular, Cameroon is not known to be a bastion of human rights protection. Whether an enabling legal mechanism for adjudicating the human right to a healthy environment exists in Cameroon as in Kenya and South Africa is thought-provoking and warrants investigation. This chapter investigates how these countries have constitutionalised the human right to a healthy environment and determined the legal mechanisms put in place for its adjudication. The chapter builds on relevant primary data notably, the countries' constitutions and case law to analyse the content and approach of the constitutional underpinnings of the human right to a healthy environment in these countries and the enabling legal environment for the adjudication of the right. The analysis is complemented by a doctrinal review of secondary data. It reveals that the constitutionalisation of the right to a healthy environment in Kenya and South Africa is more comprehensive with a corresponding enabling legal environment for its adjudication which has led to the judiciary upholding and sanctioning violations of the right. It further reveals that unlike Kenya and South Africa, the constitutionalisation of the right to a healthy environment in Cameroon is less comprehensive and there is a limited enabling legal environment for the adjudication of the right due to restricted locus standi and restricted judicial fora for the enforcement of environmental rights which limit the Cameroonian courts from adjudicating on this crucial right Based on the findings, the chapter recommends the creation of an enabling legal mechanism to adjudicate on the rights in Cameroon.