International Legal Standards for the Protection of Environmental Human Rights in the Context of European Integration

Abstract

This article examines the international legal standards for the protection of environmental human rights and the peculiarities of their implementation into the national legislation of Ukraine in the context of European integration. The relevance of the topic is обусловлена by the growing environmental threats caused by the armed aggression of the Russian Federation, as well as by the need to harmonize Ukrainian environmental law with the acquis of the European Union and the provisions of the Aarhus Convention. The purpose of the study is to provide a comprehensive analysis of international and European approaches to ensuring environmental human rights, identify the challenges of their implementation in Ukraine, and substantiate directions for improving the legal and institutional mechanisms for their protection.

The methodological framework of the study is based on general scientific and special legal methods of research, including the system-structural method, comparative legal analysis, the formal legal method, as well as methods of generalization and legal modeling. The application of these methods made it possible to reveal the content of international legal standards of environmental human rights, analyze the current state of Ukrainian legislation, and outline directions for its improvement in accordance with European requirements. The study found that Ukraine has developed an extensive regulatory and legal framework in the field of environmental protection and the safeguarding of citizens’ environmental rights. However, the existing mechanisms for their implementation require further strengthening. It was established that the key international benchmarks for the development of the national system are the Aarhus Convention, European Union environmental law, and the objectives of the European Green Deal. The necessity of improving the institutional mechanism for the protection of environmental rights is substantiated through strengthening the role of local self-government bodies, developing environmental justice, introducing digital tools for access to environmental information, and establishing institutions of public environmental oversight.

The conclusions indicate that the effective implementation of international legal standards in the field of environmental human rights is a determining factor in Ukraine’s European integration development. The approaches proposed in the article are aimed at developing the concept of «environmental democracy» as a comprehensive mechanism for ensuring access to environmental information, public participation in decision-making, access to justice, and environmental education. The implementation of these provisions will contribute to increasing the effectiveness of state environmental policy and bringing national legislation closer to European Union standards.