The justiciability of the right to health in the international covenant on economic, social and cultural rights (ICESCR) through its dimension of environmental protection

Abstract

This article provides a review of an important discussion about the justiciability of the right to health, stated in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), starting with the study of its environmental protection dimension, which was expressively stated in article 12.2(b). Moreover, it is known that Brazilian Constitucion affords explicit protection to Health. This work will focus on the debate about the implications of the limits and possibilities to consider the right to health implemented through its environmental protection dimension. From a survey of the articles of the Internacional Covenant, some important lessons can be drawn: first, the Internacional Covenant and the Brazilian Constitucion consider the right to health as a fundamental human right; second, the Internacional Covenant determines that the level of implementation of the right to health depends on the specific conditions of each country, which does not mean that it is not obligatory the adoption of a minimum level of necessary healthy measures; third, the right to health is also implement through a dimension of environmental protection, which is an important element that contributes for the justiciability of this right.