Within two years, the State will have to take adequate measures to protect the health of citizens in the area between the provinces of Naples and Caserta.
"The Italian authorities are putting the lives of the inhabitants of the Land of Fires at risk ", the Campania area involved in the burial of toxic waste in recent decades . This was established by the European Court of Human Rights, which condemned Italy for not having taken the necessary measures , despite recognizing the situation . The ECHR has established that Italy "must introduce, without delay, general measures capable of adequately addressing the phenomenon of pollution in question". The sentence is final.
"Within two years Italy will have to take adequate measures"
The ruling states that within two years the Italian state will have to introduce measures to guarantee the protection of the health of citizens in the area between the provinces of Naples and Caserta. The European Court ruled on the appeal filed by lawyer Valentina Centonze and presented by 66 citizens and five local associations. The document also cites scientific data according to which an increase in cancer rates and pollution of the aquifers of the Land of Fires has been recorded.
"Serious and imminent risk to life" in the Land of Fires
The Court found that there was a "sufficiently serious, real and verifiable" risk to life, which could be classified as "imminent". The judges also found that "there was insufficient evidence of a systematic, coordinated and comprehensive response by the authorities in addressing the situation in the Land of Fires". They also highlighted that progress in assessing the impact of pollution had been slow, when speed was needed. According to the Court, the State "failed to demonstrate that it had taken all necessary criminal action to combat illegal waste disposal" in the Land of Fires area. "Given the scale, complexity and gravity of the situation, a comprehensive and accessible communication strategy was needed to inform the public proactively about the potential or real risks to health and the actions taken to manage those risks. This was not done. Indeed, some information was covered for long periods by state secrecy", wrote the ECHR.
The complaint and the sentence on the Land of Fires
Today's judgment concerns appeals from 41 individuals and five associations. The ECHR decided to partially accept the government's objections and dismissed the appeals of the associations and several individuals. The judges found that the associations were not "directly concerned" by alleged violations arising from a health hazard due to exposure to pollution, and that they lacked standing to act on behalf of their members. As for the individuals, some argued that there was insufficient evidence that their relatives lived in areas affected by pollution.
Don Patriciello: "How many slanders have I suffered" "How many slanders we had to endure, how many threats, how many derisions, how many insults, how many insinuations. The deniers, lazy, colluding, corrupt, smeared us. We went forward, convinced. We saw with our own eyes the devastation of our lands and our lives", commented Don Maurizio Patriciello , parish priest of the church of San Paolo Apostolo in the Parco Verde of Caivano (Naples).
Lawyer Centonze: "The ECHR ruling is of historic significance"
According to the lawyer Valentina Centonze, who investigated the case, the ECHR's ruling is "a historic one. Not only because it establishes the violation of the right to life, and therefore that there have been omissions by the Italian State that has not been able to provide adequate protection to citizens, but also because prescriptions have been given to the Italian State. The Court has delved into the merits and has identified the activities that the State will have to prepare to guarantee the protection of citizens".
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