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the Report
The Science and Human Rights Program has received a grant from the Richard
& Rhoda Goldman Fund for an innovative three-year project to explore and develop
the intrinsic connections between environmental protection and human rights.
The project rests on the belief that human rights cannot be fully realized today
without acknowledging their environmental dimensions, and it builds on work
carried out by the Program during the past several years in economic, social
and cultural rights.
The project’s goals include: (1) promoting greater awareness of the environmental
determinants of existing human rights within both the human rights and environmental
communities; (2) preparing resources to assist human rights organizations to
incorporate relevant environmental factors into their ongoing monitoring, and
environmental advocates to make effective use of human rights approaches and
mechanisms; and (3) developing protocols and instruments for monitoring the
environmental dimensions of existing human rights.
The project will focus initially on the rights to health, food, water, and
a clean and healthy environment. Although the latter two rights do not appear
as such in international law, existing human rights are often interpreted to
include them. In addition, access to water and to an environment not harmful
to health and well-being are written into the Bill of Rights of the 1996 South
African Constitution, and the project will address them with special reference
to South Africa.
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