Fight for Right to Clean and Healthy Environment in the Judicial Context of Sri Lanka with an International Perspective

Abstract

Today Society’s interaction with nature is so extensive that environmental issues have assumed proportions affecting all humanity. With the industrial and technological development, mankind have not only improved economic conditions but also influenced the natural ecological balance. So the is degrading at rated never seen before and this is one such question that has created a discourse on the protection of the in global level. The realization that environmental problems have serious consequences for human health and well-being and could even threaten the very existence of human life on earth, had led to the dialogue on a to healthy and clean environment. While the highest human accorded to a human being is the to life, that could become meaningless if the in which he is living is degrading day by day. Right to life is meaningful if only to clean and healthy is legally guaranteed and enforceable. One can argue that could be due to the lack of an enforceable to a healthy meaning that no one has a to claim for a healthy environment. The to a clean is not a purely individual right. Rather, it has a collective facet, belonging equally to such groups as future generations and indigenous peoples whose cultures depend on the for their existence and perpetuation. Internationally, the concept of a group of of developing countries, solidarity rights, also called of third generation, is attributed to the French lawyer Karel Vasak, who enumerated right to environment as one of them. The Fundamental Rights chapter found in the 1978 Constitutions of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka does not contain any provision for protection of ecological rights and while the directive principles recognize the importance of and corresponding duties of the citizens of the country to protect and safeguard it, it is however not legally binding in a Court of law. The objective of this literature research is to find out how Right to clean and healthy is internationally and nationally recognized, to analyze on Judicial Activism of Sri Lanka regarding the interpretation of said and to elucidate the international obligation of Sri Lanka to protect, promote and respect the to clean and healthy environment. In order to highlight the significance of wholesome while achieving the above objectives doctrinal research method is being used. For these doctrinal study primary and secondary legal resources has been referred.