Ecological cases of the ECtHR and the environmental risk of GMO

Elena Trikoz,V Breskich,S Uvarova,Elena Gulyaeva

doi:10.1051/e3sconf/202124412024

Abstract

The aim of this article is to consider the guarantees of protection of such a fundamental human right of the fourth generation as the right to a healthy and quality environment. The authors focus on the Jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in environmental matters in cases. The article touches upon the States’ positive obligations in particular the obligation to provide access to essential information enabling individuals to assess risks to their health. The research framework includes a discussion from a human rights perspective (the right to a healthy and quality environment). We consider the criterion of relevance (applicability) environmental cases where the pollution is directly caused by the state or when state responsibility arises from a failure to regulate adequately the private sector. Particular focus is placed on the category of Russian cases related to plants operation and above the norm air emissions as well as to the consequences of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster. The article analyzes the EU policy regarding the regulation of production and turnover of products containing genetically modified organisms. With regard to environmental protection, the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights stipulates that a high level of environmental protection and environmental quality improvement should be integrated into EU policies and guaranteed in accordance with the principle of sustainable development. It was found that in the EU legislation and judicial practice on biotechnology and food safety, there is a rigid line of regulation of the production and circulation of products containing GMOs.

Highlights

At both the global and European scales the need to acknowledge a new fundamental human right, namely the right to a healthy and balanced environment is a relatively recent development
The Convention or its Additional Protocols do not have provisions directly related to the right to healthy and sustainable environment, the European Court of Human Rights in its jurisprudence and the European Commission case law data has recognized that certain types of environmental degradation with serious consequences for individuals or even the failure of public authorities to provide information on the environmental risks to individuals may constitute a violation of certain rights protected by the Convention provisions such as the right to life, prohibition of torture, the right to private and family life, or the right to property
From a human rights perspective, the right to a healthy and quality environment is a fundamental right whose nature and characteristics do not change over time

Summary

Introduction

At both the global and European scales the need to acknowledge a new fundamental human right, namely the right to a healthy and balanced environment is a relatively recent development. Principles related to sustainable development are most fully codified at the informal level in the draft Convention [2], established in 1995 by the Commission on Environmental Law of the IUCN in cooperation with the International Council on Environmental Law, and in the Declaration of Principles of International Law Relating to Sustainable Development, adopted at the ILA Conference on April 6, 2002 It should be noted, that theorists classify environmental rights as the third and fourth human rights generation, in particular, the right to a healthy environment; the right to freely seek, receive, transfer, produce and disseminate information about the environment, legal phenomena and processes, etc. The fourth generation of rights often includes the rights of humanity – to peace, nuclear safety, peaceful exploration of outer space, environmental, etc. [3]

Objectives

Methods

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion