Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Vukasovic, Vid

Titel

International legal regulation of the right to adequate environment

Ist Teil von

• Međunarodni problemi (Srpskohrvatsko izd.), 2003, Vol.55 (1), p.89-103

Ort / Verlag

Institute of International Politics and Economics, Belgrade

Erscheinungsjahr

2003

Quelle

Free E-Journal (出版社公開部分のみ）

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• The article deals with some key issues concerning the evolution of the concept of the right to adequate environment. The evolution took several decades to reach the present state in which it is obvious that the right has been accepted as one of the so called third generation human rights by both doctrine and practice, in international environmental law as well as in national environmental legislation of a number of countries. In the first phase of development only some elements of the right existed within the ?classical? human rights (the right to life, the right to health etc.) of so called first and second generation. The turning point was the UN Stockholm 1972 Conference on the environment. The right was inserted in the first principle, of the Declaration accepted by the conference, and already had most of its main elements: the right to adequate living conditions in an environment with the quality that not only guarantees healthy life but a life in dignity and well-being. After the Stockholm Conference, the right was embraced by a part of the doctrine, and increasingly mentioned and discussed within the frame of the UNEP, the relevant UN specialized agencies, as well as by some other international organizations active in the field of environmental protection. The result of this acceptance was an increasing insertion of the right in international treaties as well as in various declaratory documents, on both universal and regional levels. The author devotes a part of his article to the development in Europe, and especially to the work of the Council of Europe, the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the EU. The author believes that most important development in Europe occurred within the ?Environment for Europe Process?, under the aegis of the UNECE. The result of it was signing of the Aarhus Convention (1998), one of most important international treaties signed until now. First of all, it regulates two important fields - protection of human rights and protection of environment. In it not only the right to adequate environment is explicitly mentioned in the Art. 1, but the main elements of the right are regulated in detail. The three ?pillars? of the Convention are devoted to the right to environmental information, the right of citizens to participate in environmental matters and the right to access to justice in matters concerning the environmental protection. It should be added that the Aarhus Convention has become a part of the EU legislation. Due to that, the whole process of implementation of the convention has become unavoidable for all candidate countries, as a proof of their intent to apply in practice environmental legislation and to democratise their societies. Moze se zakljuciti da je koncept prava na adekvatnu zivotnu sredinu danas prihvacen kako na univerzalnom tako i na regionalnom planu. Pri tome je, iz razumljivih razloga, posebno znacajan za nasu zemlju razvoj u Evropi, u kojoj je taj koncept inace dostigao najvisi domet, pre svega zahvaljujuci razvoju pod okriljem UNECE i u EU. Najznacajniji medjunarodnopravni dokument u kome je detaljno regulisano ovo pravo, na panevropskom planu, je Arhuska konvencija, koja predstavlja podjednako znacajan napredak kako u domenu zastite zivotne sredine tako i u oblasti zastite ljudskih prava. Njome se konacno uvodi na regionalnom evropskom planu koncept prava na adekvatnu zivotnu sredinu, pri cemu se posebno detaljno regulisu tri kljucna elementa tog prava - pravo na ekolosku informaciju, pravo na participaciju javnosti u domenu zastite zivotne sredine i pravo na pristup pravosudju. Zbog toga je ovaj medjunarodni ugovor od izuzetnog znacaja za proces demokratizacije drustva i za izgradnju gradjanskih institucija. Pored toga, on predstavlja i jedan od preduslova za sprovodjenje tranzicije i dokaz da jedna zemlja u potpunosti participira u integracionim procesima u Evropi. Vazna je i cinjenica da su odredbe Arhuske konvencije u mnogome inspirisane zakonodavstvom i praksom EU. Samim tim je i prilagodjavanje zakonodavstva i institucija jedne zemlje u tranziciji ovoj konvenciji u mnogome deo procesa harmonizacije zakonodavstva sa zakonodavstvom i praksom EU, u nekoliko oblasti zastite zivotne sredine, zastite ljudskih prava i razvoja institucija civilnog drustva. Poznato je da EU postavlja odredjene uslove drzavama kandidatima za clanstvo i da u najvaznije od tih uslova upravo spada harmonizacija zakonodavstva i u pomenutim oblastima. Zbog svega navedenog, koncept prava na adekvatnu zivotnu sredinu nuzno mora da bude prihvacen i od strane svih zemalja koje zele da budu ukljucene u evropske integracione procese i medjunarodnu saradnju u Evropi uopste, a posebno za sve zemlje koje imaju ambiciju da postanu clanice EU.