The right to life

The Right to Life (Article 21) protects a person's life and liberty.

But it means much more than staying alive. It means the right to live with dignity.

Living with dignity includes the right to:

• a livelihood (a way to earn a living);
• education;
• health;
• a clean environment;
• fair treatment under the law.

Why so wide? A right that only stopped someone from killing you would still let you go hungry, miss school, or breathe poisoned air.

It also covers children with disabilities. They must get the support they need to learn, play and take part fully, equally with others.

For example, a tactile map (a map you read by touch) in a school for blind children helps them use their right to education.

Then the chapter asks a surprising question: can nature have rights?

Some places say yes:

• in New Zealand, the Whanganui River is treated by law as a living being;
• Costa Rica protects the rights of Nature in its Constitution.

In 2017, the Uttarakhand High Court declared the Ganga and Yamuna to be legal persons, with the rights of a living person. It appointed legal guardians to protect them.

But that decision was suspended and finally overturned by the Supreme Court, which called it 'legally unsustainable'.

The chapter leaves the question open: should rivers and forests have rights like people? It is worth discussing.