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Sources of environmental law

relocation or to institute a practical strategy to shield of the Ukrainian Law on Environmental Protection.
them from the environmental dangers linked to their This particular provision stipulates that citizens whose
prolonged residence in proximity to these industrial environmental rights have been violated are entitled
entities. These shortcomings constitute a breach of to restoration and that legal recourse for protection
Article 8 of the Convention. The ECtHR’s case law within a court of law is available, as per Ukrainian legal
17
extends its jurisdiction to the territory of Ukraine, standards. Moreover, according to Article 55, Part 4 of
irrespective of whether the decisions concerned Ukraine the Ukrainian Constitution, every individual holds the
and its citizens directly or whether the decisions were assured right to pursue protection for their freedoms
made with respect to another state. and rights through relevant international judicial bodies
Returning to the Constitution of Ukraine as a source or through bodies of international organizations where
of environmental law, it contains the most important Ukraine holds membership or participation, following
norms that regulate relations in the field of interaction the exhaustion of all national legal avenues.
between humans and the environment. The following Ukraine’s ratification of the Convention for the
norms should be considered constitutional principles of Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
environmental law or as special regulations of higher means its provisions are now part of Ukrainian national
legal force regarding individual environmental relations legislation. The interpretation of this Convention by
and their objects. 2 the ECtHR is extensive. When judging cases brought
As for the Convention for the Protection of Human against Ukraine (or any other nation), the European
Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, it does not directly Court bases its decisions on established legal precedents.
provide environmental rights for citizens, but there is Consequently, rulings from the ECtHR serve as essential
a direct connection between the right to respect one’s guidance for governmental agencies and their officers,
private and family life, to one’s home, provided in Article with a view to upholding human rights. 19
8 of the Convention, and the right to an environment Since the Convention for the Protection of Human
safe for life and health. 12 Rights and Fundamental Freedoms does not directly
International legal acts in the field of environmental enshrine the right to a safe environment for life and
protection serve as a framework, providing participants health, citizens, when applying to the ECtHR in the
with the flexibility to choose the means of achieving their event of a violation of their environmental rights, refer
goals. Therefore, the most effective way to implement to a breach of Article 8 of the Convention. Volobuieva
such acts into the national legislation of Ukraine is the correctly notes that in the practice of the ECtHR, most
method of transformation, which involves the adoption often, the violation of the right to a safe environment for
by the state based on the text of an international legal life and health is associated with the breach of the right
act or its individual articles of the corresponding norms to respect for private and family life, which indicates a
of domestic law. close connection between environmental pollution and
The main ways to solve the problems of the said right. 20
implementing international legal acts in the field of One of the available evidence in favor of the
environmental protection in Ukraine are as follows: consideration and protection by the Court of
(i) prompting the addition or amendment of national Environmental Human Rights and the environment,
environmental legislation, (ii) identifying specific in general, is that the ECtHR, in its decisions, calls the
mechanisms and ways of implementing international environment a value that prevails over the interests of
obligations undertaken by Ukraine in the field of one person (or family), even if this concerns his private
environmental protection, (iii) creating separate units life and property. In the case of Nateg versus Belgium
within the structure of the Ministry of Ecology and (application no. 21861/03), the applicant owned a house
Natural Resources of Ukraine, which would concentrate built by her parents in a forest area without obtaining a
their activities on the implementation of the relevant building permit. She was sued for building the house
international legal act and establish cooperation in this in violation of forest legislation. The Court decided
direction, and (iv) ensuring more active involvement of that the applicant must restore the site to its previous
specialized public organizations of an environmental condition. The house was forcibly demolished. 21
orientation and interested territorial communities in For the 1 time in its case law (the decision was
st
making environmentally significant decisions. 18 made in 2007), the Court stated that the environment,
Safeguards for the environmental rights of Ukrainian although not expressly mentioned in the Convention,
citizens are enshrined, specifically in Article 11, Part 3 nevertheless represents a value in the preservation of

Volume 22 Issue 3 (2025) 157 doi: 10.36922/AJWEP025160118