Aplinkos apsauga žmogaus teisių kontekste

LTStraipsnyje nagrinėjama aplinkos apsaugos ir žmogaus teisių santykio teisinio apibrėžimo raida, analizuojama Europos žmogaus teisių teismo jurisprudencija šiuo klausimu, vertinamas šio santykio teisinis reguliavimas Lietuvoje, bandoma identifikuoti galimas teisinio reguliavimo tobulinimo kryptis šioje srityje. [Iš leidinio]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Aplinkos apsauga; Žmogaus teisės; Europos Žmogaus Teisių Teismas (European Court of Human Rights); Environmental protection; Human rights; Jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights.

ENArticle describes the development of legal definition of the relationship between environment and human rights. After the evaluation of different internationational documents, three most popular approaches (forms of legal formalization) to this relationship could be identified: environmental protection is said to be a pre-condition for the enjoyment of other human rights; the right to an appropriate quality of environment is recognized as an independent substantive human right; the implementation of environmental protection is associated with certain procedural rights of individuals. The first approach is more or less declarative and quite obvious. The second approach is much stronger, but without clear definition of the right to environment and its scope it migth stay vague. On the other hand it might also remain declarative if the third approach is not implemented, i.e. without those procedural rights which would allow to implement the right to environment in practice. All this suggests that only the combination of all three approaches might give the best results.The article also analyses jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights on this issue. From the analyzed examples, it is clear that the European Court of Human Rights supports the position that appropriate quality of environment is vital for implementation of other human rights, e. g. right to life, right to respect of private life and home, right to freedom of expression, etc. The European Court of Human Rights ensures broad possibilities for indirect protection of environment through the protection of other human rights, though The European Convention on Human Rights has no explicit provision on the right to a decent environment (or any other „environmental“ provisions). Though not directly stated the relationship between environment and human rights could also be identified from the analysis of Lithuanian legal acts. And that was done by the Constitutional Court of Lithuania and other courts as well. After evaluation of legal practice, it becomes obvious, that it is not necessary to “write down” the right to a decent environment. Much more important is to recognize this right in practice and to ensure the proper implementation of the related procedural rights. [From the publication]