Whether the state should provide clean drinking water and clean air which is an integral part of right to environment so that fundamental human right is not negatively affected? This question has been answered affirmatively by Indian constitutional courts and indeed by all advanced legal systems in the world including the United Nations Human Rights Committee. The natural inference of this answer is that the environmental rights of people must be protected as part and parcel of human rights. In this sense we can conclude that there are many human rights which come as package deal many times including the human right to environment as collateral benefit. One only needs to have a clear vision to unfold the packaging. More recently drafted international human rights instruments do mention the value of environment in their systems of protection. The Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) and the ILO Convention concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples (1989) are good examples.

Author:
Dr. Ayaz Ahmad, Associate Professor, Unitedworld School of Law (UWSL)

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