Procedural Human Rights in Environmental Cases – Principles Established in the Practice of the European Court of Human Rights
Procedural Human Rights in Environmental Cases – Principles Established in the Practice of the European Court of Human Rights

Summary/Abstract: Although the environmental rights are not explicitly protected by the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the European Court of Human Rights has, nevertheless, examined a large number of environmental cases and developed rich jurisprudence in that field. Using the method of interpreting the European Convention as a living instrument, which says that European Convention must be interpreted in present day conditions, the European Court has examined environmental cases through an intensive interpretation of the domain of human rights and fundamental freedoms protected by the European Convention. In this context, the European Court has developed rich judicial practice both in terms of substantive and procedural human rights in the environmental matters. This paper aims to analyze the principles established by the European Court in its practice regarding procedural human rights in environmental matters. In this context, the paper analyzes the right to a fair trial, the right to an effective remedy, the right to freedom of expression, through the most important environmental cases before the European Court. The principles established in these cases should be guidelines to all countries of the Council of Europe when it comes to access to court, the execution of final court decisions, the right to an effective remedy and access to information in environmental matters.

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