Any Fundamental Environmental Rights in the DR?

Keith R

Keith R

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Fabio, I am hoping you can help me out with this. I am in the process of writing a series on enforcement and compliance in the environment field for the Green Team blog.

One of the issues I am grappling with is the prospect for citizen enforcement in the DR. Key to this is what, if anything, is recognized by Dominican courts as a fundamental right vis-a-vis the environment. In many Latin American nations, the right of citizens to a clean environment is in the Constitution, but not in the DR. Nor is it really in Argentina's Constitution, but at least there the courts have used the amparo to defend individual or collective environmental rights derived from statutes, treaties and interpretation of broader provisions in the constitution. Is there anything like this in the DR, even if only nascient or potential?

Thanks in advance for your input!

Keith R
 
Keith R

Keith R

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Fabio, thanks for your reply. I have read the law from preamble to signature, and have had it posted on my own website for 1 1/2 yrs, thanks. I was asking about jurisprudence -- something the courts or Dominican legal scholars have recognized as more fundamental than Law 64-00. If all citizen rights to a clean environment begin and end with Law 64-00, then I have my answer -- as frigthening as that may be.

Best Regards,
Keith
 
Keith R

Keith R

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Keith R said:
I was asking about jurisprudence -- something the courts or Dominican legal scholars have recognized as more fundamental than Law 64-00. If all citizen rights to a clean environment begin and end with Law 64-00, then I have my answer -- as frigthening as that may be.
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You're not going to respond, are you, Fabio? :tired:
 
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Fabio J. Guzman

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Keith, I just ran a search on Lexlata for Supreme Court decisions regarding Law 64-00 and there are none. The only cases that have reached the Court regarding the environment have been in connection with the libel suits filed by Moya Pons, ex-Minister of the Environment, against Listin Diario. Law 64-00 has not been widened in its scope by "jurisprudencia".
 
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Texas Bill

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Environmental responsibility to a community

For Sr Fabio Guzman;

Sr Guzman;

I am interested in the question of whether or not the Government recognizes and is responsible for the healthy wellbeing of a community when it is exposed to arial contaminants such as "Clinker dust" and Cola dust" caused by the improper and outdated equipment used in the unloading of these items at a Government run facility.
"Coal dust" is a known cause of "Black lung" disease. Inasmuch as there will be built Coal-fired Electrical Plants in two locations in the DR, and if proper unloading facilities are not present to contain the resulting dust distribution into the atmosphere, thus contaminating the surrounding area, would the Government be liable for the insuing health problems caused by such? And, if so, what legal recourse would be available to the community for resolution to the problems.

Texas Bill
 
Keith R

Keith R

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Chris said:
Work to do Keith? Does this mean we have to go to court and set some precedent?
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Nah, not us.

As I said in the OP, I am considering options in the DR for "citizen enforcement" as part of my "basics" series for the blog, and wanted to know if this was one of the options, as it is in many Latin American nations. Sounds like "citizen enforcement" options are limited in the DR.
 
F

Fabio J. Guzman

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You may sue the government, however, awards against the government are legally unenforceable, meaning that the victims or the victims' families will not be able to collect unless the government is willing to pay them.

A better option would be to sue the company or companies building the plants or to try obtaining an injunction against those companies before the plants are in place.
 
C

Chris

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Keith R said:
Nah, not us.
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Good! I feel relieved LOL...

More seriously, this is an interesting answer from Fabio. That explains why the more militant environmental groups are not really 'into' doing anything in the DR. If they should follow a legal way to get some action done, they will have to do it for the love of the cause, and the not the love of the court award. (Yeah, OK, it is a cynical day today :classic: )
 
Keith R

Keith R

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Hate to be pesky about this question, but the following was just mentioned to me in an email about another DR environmental matter:

la primera sentencia dominicana, donde se reconoce el derecho a un ambiente sano de todos los dominicanos. Ve?se el Caso Bacui.
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Fabio, have you heard of this case? I looked on the Supreme Court's website but could not find it among the sentencias destacadas. I'd like to see what exactly the Court said.

Also, I note that the Dominican Supreme Court did recognize in 1999 the right of amparo. [Sentencia sobre Recurso de Amparo] Why can't this be deployed in defense of the environment? Or perhaps better stated, what are the limitations on its use?

Thanks, Keith
 
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Fabio J. Guzman

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Keith, I think the judgment you refer to is from a Court of First Instance. Rulings from these courts are not published anywhere except in exceptional cases. I haven't seen this particular one published.

With the "recurso de amparo" you have the same problem I stated before: how do you enforce it against the government?
 
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