The Right to Life

• Author: Environmental Law Institute
• Pages: 39-50

III. The Right to Life

While many constitutions of African states contain provisions specifi-

cally granting citizens the right to a healthy environment and empower-

ing the government to protect the environment, not all constitutions

contain such provisions, and their usefulness as a legal tool for protect-

ing environmental and natural resources, or health, as it is affected by

environmental conditions, may be limited to specific contexts. How-

ever, although it is largely untested in Africa, another constitutional ap-

proach to environmental protection can be found in the right to life pro-

visions contained in the constitutions of all African states. (See Table

1.) Considering the universal presence of these provisions, the right to

life could constitute a pan-African mechanism for enabling citizens to

protect the environment.

Typically, constitutions of African states establish that citizens have a

fundamental right to life, sometimes articulated as a right not to be arbi-

trarily deprived of life. What does it mean to possess a right to “life?”

Certainly, a death sentence without trial or other due process resulting in

execution would violate this right. But can the scope of these right to life

provisions be expanded to include a right to the means necessary for sup-

porting life? For example, because air and water are necessary to sustain

life, does the right to life necessarily imply a right to clean air and water?

How far might courts go in expanding the scope of this fundamental right

in the context of environmental protection and, equally important, who

may petition courts to vindicate the right? Because few courts in Africa

have had occasion to address these questions, this section provides ex-

amples of how courts around the world have interpreted similar constitu-

tional right to life provisions in the context of environmental protection.

We first examine the language used in the right to life provisions in con-

stitutions of African states and then turn to a discussion of the right to life

as interpreted in courts around the world.

A. The Text of Right to Life Provisions

All 52 African nations examined in preparation of this publication pro-

vide that citizens have a fundamental right to life. (See Table1). In addi-

tion to constitutional right to life provisions, some nations, such as Bu-

rundi and Nigeria, also indirectly guarantee the right to life by stating

adherence to the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which

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