Violation of the right to health as a consequence of the violation of the right to the environment: an analysis of the jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights

Abstract

This paper focuses on environmental impacts on the right to health based on the judgment handed down by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in the case of Inhabitants of La Oroya v. Peru (2024). Based on the case analysis, the aim is to answer: is it possible to identify and interrelate, based on the study of the case of Inhabitants of La Oroya v. Peru, that environmental impacts ultimately violate the right to health? The approach is deductive, with bibliographical, analytical, and jurisprudential research techniques. The relevance of this research lies in the need to determine whether there is an interrelationship between environmental impacts and violations of the right to health, and how this issue is being protected within the Inter-American Human Rights System, notably in light of the protective standards established by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in the case of Inhabitants of La Oroya v. Peru. Peru. The results obtained from the research concluded that there is an interrelationship between environmental impacts and health damage. In the case analyzed, it was possible to identify that soil, water, and air contamination caused health problems in the population. It remains undisputed that violations of the right to the environment have repercussions on other rights, such as the right to health, which is the subject of this study.