The Right to Clean Air in International Documents and Iranian Law, and Its Criminal Guarantees

Abstract

Clean air is a crucial element of the right to a healthy environment. At the same time, air pollution is a form of environmental pollution that has detrimental effects on human life, putting the health of the environment and citizens at serious risk. This has made the examination of the right to clean air in international documents and Iranian law, as well as its criminal guarantees, a necessity. Based on this premise, the aim of the present article is to examine the approach of Iranian law and international documents towards the right to clean air and its criminal guarantees. This article is descriptive-analytical and uses a library research method to investigate the subject at hand. The findings indicate that both Iranian law and international documents support the right to clean air, and governments are obligated to enact the necessary laws and ensure compliance with these laws. On the international level, there is little to no discussion of criminal guarantees for the protection of this right because the criminal sanctions for environmental crimes have not developed sufficiently. However, domestically, in Iran, the legislator has prescribed penalties such as imprisonment and fines to protect both the right to clean water and clean air. Nevertheless, these enforcement mechanisms do not seem to be particularly deterrent.