Italy has done too little to protect residents in the Naples/Caserta/Nola triangle from the health consequences of illegal waste incineration and has been ordered by the European Court of Human Rights to set up an independent monitoring mechanism and a platform to inform the public (judgement of 30 January 2025 complaint 51567/14).
The Italian state's defence was that it had already taken many measures to protect the population; these were not enough for the Court and, in particular, the number of cases prosecuted (only 7 convictions!) did not show any particular vigour on the part of the authorities.
