Defending and Advancing the Human Right to a Healthy Environment
•Human Rights Abuses Against Communities of Color & the Poor
•US Environmental Law vs. Environmental Human Rights Standards
•Human Rights Reform of the US Environmental Protection System
•Healthy Environment Bill of Rights

Human Rights Refom of the U.S. Environmental Protection System

The U.S. system of environmental protection is broken, and must be fixed.  Reform is needed to protect the human rights of people who have been subjected to toxic pollution and other environmental hazards pursuant to environmental laws and regulations.  Protecting the human right to a healthy environment, as well as the fundamental human rights to life, health, racial equality, and security of one’s home requires a reform of the environmental regulatory system that ensures the following: 

• a safe distance between residential communities and hazardous, toxic facilities
• remedies and preventative measures for people of color and the poor bearing disproportionate pollution burdens
• human health protection from multiple, cumulative, and synergistic impacts of toxic chemicals
• requirements for employing alternative, safe, and sustainable materials, processes, and products that eliminate or minimize toxic waste & greenhouse gas emissions

In March 2005, AEHR filed the first ever environmental human rights legal challenge against the U.S. government for establishing an environmental regulatory system that violates fundamental human rights.  On behalf of African American residents in the community of Mossville, Louisiana, AEHR filed the human rights petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States.  (Click here to read The Mossville, LA Human Rights Petition.)

Advocates for Environmental Human Rights

Headquarters:
650 Poydras Street, Suite 2523
New Orleans, Louisiana 70130
Tel. 504.799.3060
Fax 504.799.3061

Campaign & Policy Office:
1730 M Street, NW, Suite 412
Washington, DC 20036
Tel. 202-775-0055
Fax 202-293-7110

Monique Harden
Co-Director & Attorney
mharden@ehumanrights.org

Nathalie Walker
Co-Director & Attorney
nwalker@ehumanrights.org

Michele Roberts
Campaign & Policy Coordinator
mroberts@ehumanrights.org