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RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES
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There have been several articles recently that have suggested that many people with Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy are doing so to exercise their constitutional rights to say no/to be healthy/to exercise freedom of choice/etc., etc.

The first point to be raised is to ask, does the right of the individual take precedence over the rights of the Community?  For example, if I choose to increase the risk of developing Covid-19, how does that affect the rights of those members of the Community that are forced, knowingly or unknowingly, to become infected by me, thus affecting their rights to a healthy environment?

I may be simple-minded, but I have always understood that for every right, there is a concomitant responsibility. That responsibility should temper and balance the right to ensure that it does not overwhelm other rights or the rights of others. It is difficult to get a perfect match, but it creates a basis for discussion which may arrive at a consensus that benefits all to a greater or lesser degree.

Section 24 of the South African Constitution provides that, “…everyone has the right to a healthy environment, and also the right to have the environment protected from pollution and ecological degradation, which promotes conservation and secures ecologically sustainable development…”

If we balance this right with a mirrored responsibility, I think it should read: –

“…everyone has the right responsibility to contribute to a healthy environment, and also the right responsibility to have ensure that the environment is protected from pollution and ecological degradation, which thus promotes conservation and secures ecologically sustainable development…”

I suppose that the above is somewhat idealistic, but it sends a policy that should encourage citizens to do more than just demand that the Government protects Nature and the Environment. Everyone in the Community has to exercise the responsibility to achieve that healthy and protected environment.

It means that the Community has to stop littering; consider recycling to reduce the amount of waste that must be dumped into the environment; stop polluting streams and rivers with sewage, wastes and toxic chemicals; and the myriad of other anti-social human behaviours that have a direct and indirect negative impact upon a healthy environment that is protected from pollution and ecological degradation.

Is that such a difficult task to take up?

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”

                                                                                                Chinese Proverb

Stay safe and be careful,

Arend Hoogervorst

Editor: Practical Environmental Options

Eagle Environmental