O prawie do środowiska w systemie Europejskiej Konwencji Praw Człowieka – refleksje na tle najnowszego orzecznictwa strasburskiego

Abstract

The system of the European Convention on Human Rights of 1950 (ECHR) has undergone a unique dynamic evolution both in the sphere of substantive standards as well as the procedural ones. Due to the characteristic of the above-mentioned system a reconstruction of additional rights is possible, i.e. those which were not included in the original catalogue of the ECHR or the substantive additional protocols to this treaty. This remark is directly connected to the title issue of this paper although the nature of the problem goes beyond a simple supplement of the collection of rights and freedoms. Thus, the basic thesis of this article is an assumption concerning the more visible elimination of borders between the so-called generations of human rights presented in the classical doctrine on the subject. This tendency should be fully approved as allowing the holistic perception of a human being and their rights. Consequently, the feature of uniformity of human rights is confirmed, which is obvious in the context of one original source of these rights, i.e. the inherent human dignity.The natural environment of a human being – although not mentioned in the ECHR system – becomes more often a subject of interest of the European Court of Human Rights. This positive trend can be easily confirmed by making reference to the latest Strasbourg judicature. Actually, the Author of the article tries to do so with the intention of enumerating the ECHR standards which involve 'an environmental background'.