RICHARD HEASMAN
A hard hitting report commissioned by the Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation was delivered this week to David Cameron and called on the government to investigate the impact of fracking on the rights of individuals.
The report cites human rights liabilities for the British government if fracking is to commence commercially across the UK. It was co-authored by the Global Network for the Study of Human Rights and the Environment as well as the Environment and Human Rights Advisory and the Human Rights Consortium at the University of London.
It focuses primarily on the health implications of people living by frack sites, where the government is “legally bound to respect and protect human rights, both under the auspices of its own Human Rights Act 1998 and of the European Convention on Human Rights.”
Under these acts, the UK is obligated to consider the environmental impacts of industry on its citizens by allowing for public participation as well as the ‘right to life’, which protects citizens from living near dangerous and contaminated areas, including poisonous water supplies.
The report also highlights the government’s concentrated efforts to sell the positives of fracking over a steady informative review, with consistent claims that burning shale gas produces fewer greenhouse emissions than burning coal.