Environmental rights and environmental obligations of citizens are an integral element of the legal status of each person, which extends throughout the territory of the modern state. It is important to note that such opportunities or restrictions apply to foreigners and persons who have Russian citizenship, that is, are citizens of the country.
Fundamental right: the right to life
Environmental rights and obligations of citizens are enshrined in the Constitution of Russia. A fundamental element of the legal status of this type is the human right to life - this rule is contained in Article 20 of the Basic Law of the Russian Federation. The human right to life is based on numerous acts of an international legal nature:
- Charter of Human Rights.
- Stockholm Declaration and so on.
There are global international acts that are adopted by government organizations, usually one of the elements or departments of the UN. Along with them, there are regional legal acts whose effect extends to a certain territory and is adopted by local authorities, for example, the Council of Europe.
Another source of this norm, on the basis of which all environmental rights and obligations of citizens were developed, is the Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted even before the formation of the Russian Federation as an independent legal state.
Basic environmental rights and obligations of citizens do not have a right to exist in the absence of a normatively fixed human right to life.
The right to a favorable natural environment
Environmental rights and environmental obligations of citizens without fail include the right to a favorable natural environment, which is contained in the main legal act regulating legal status.
Article 11 first describes the “enabling environment”. This is such a natural environment, due to which the natural functioning of natural objects, ecosystems, animal species, plants and so on is preserved. The natural environment should also serve as the basic basis for the development of natural ecological objects, as well as comply with all established standards, which are designed to ensure the safety of the health and life of citizens, flora and fauna. The condition of a favorable natural environment must meet standards that determine the degree of its environmental sustainability, purity, species diversity, as well as natural wealth in general.
Environmental system
Environmental rights and environmental obligations of citizens are respected subject to the fulfillment of all presented standards (established in Article 20 of the Federal Law "On the Environment"), the system of which is as follows:
- A group of standards that measure environmental quality. The main standard is taken by chemical indicators, for example, the level of concentration of radioactive substances in the air. Along with chemical data, physical indicators are used, mainly such as radioactivity and heat level.
- A group of standards that characterize biological indicators of the state of the environment. As a rule, indicators are measured by calculating plant and animal species, as well as other existing organisms. It also uses the norms of maximum permissible concentrations of organisms in the natural environment.
- The third group of standards is presented in Art. 23 of the aforementioned law and is characterized by permissible impact on nature, namely, it calculates indicators of permissible emissions of substances; generation of consumption and production waste; norms of physical impact on the environment.
- Indicators of anthropogenic pressure on nature.
- Other permissible indicators and standards that may be established by the federal legislation of the Russian Federation.
There are also regulations that protect the environmental rights and obligations of citizens of the Russian Federation, without having a direct connection with the environment. Mostly this group of standards is associated with the work performed, services in the field of environmental protection. There are also restrictions associated with economic activity and its subsequent negative impact on nature. A separate type of regulatory standards is the activity of issuing licenses for the implementation of a certain type of work related to active interaction with the environment.
The right of citizens to information
Environmental rights and environmental obligations of citizens as a mandatory element provide for the right of residents of the state to information about the environment, as well as about its condition. The Main Law of Russia in article 24 says that every citizen of the country has the right to familiarize themselves with those materials that directly affect his rights and freedoms, whether it is a local regulatory act or an act of enforcement nature, for example, a court decision.
It is important to note that such environmental rights and obligations of citizens are a worthy indicator of the development of a modern state, since several decades ago all environmental problems that ever existed in the country were surrounded by an unshakable veil of secrecy. At the moment, the situation is completely opposite, since the Constitution of the Russian Federation places legal responsibility on officials to conceal circumstances and facts that pose a danger to the health and life of citizens.
Another aspect of the right to information is protection and full access to information about the consequences of environmental accidents; disclosing information about the safety of the affected settlement and so on. Information of this kind cannot carry the status of “information constituting state. secret ”, respectively, and access to them cannot be limited. Earlier, the information described above was marked “For official use”. Since these categories of documents are available for review only to certain categories of officials, there could be no question of ensuring full and open access to this information for all citizens.
Ways to exercise the right to information
Environmental rights and obligations of citizens are briefly regulated not only by the Constitution, but also by other legal entities, including the Law on Information, which provides for the following ways to exercise the right to information:
- The study of public information resources of free access. Firstly, all users have equal legal status in relation to the use of a particular resource; secondly, no user is obligated to report on the purposes and grounds for receiving the information provided. The exception is only information constituting a state secret and having a classified heading.
- By exercising public control by organizations and legal entities that, along with individuals, have access to information. Receiving this or that information, the organization has the right to disseminate information about the state of the environment among the masses of the population.
- Implementation of mass informing the population by organizing the work of state bodies. authorities and local government. Authorized persons are obliged to create local information resources, as well as exercise control over subordinate organizations on environmental awareness issues.
- Appeal to the judiciary in order to protect the right to information.
- Through the exercise of a person’s right to compensation for damage caused as a result of a refusal to provide environmental information or to receive inaccurate data.
The right to appeal to the court for protection of rights
The environmental rights and obligations of citizens of the Russian Federation are enshrined in the Constitution of the state and provide for an equally important right of every citizen - the right to apply to court in order to protect rights and freedoms.
This power is granted for the purpose of:
- Ensuring the principle of legality, which leads all the tenets in any branch of law, thereby ensuring a guarantee of the implementation of the proclaimed norms.
- Protecting the legal status of citizens within their legal environmental status.
- Realization of the right of citizens to compensation for damage resulting from unlawful actions of authorized persons responsible for the protection of a specific section of the ecological environment.
- Regulation of the activities of the judiciary and assignment of duties to them to protect the rights of citizens.
Right to Compensation
Another element, which includes the environmental rights and obligations of citizens of the Russian Federation, is the right of citizens to compensation for damage that has been received in connection with an environmental violation. This power is enshrined in Art. 42 of the Constitution of Russia. In turn, the right to compensation for damage is more fully represented in the Federal Law "On the Environment", which states that in case of damage to the ecological system, any persons are obliged to compensate the damage in full. The result of harm may be expressed as:
- environmental pollution in general;
- depletion of environmental resources;
- damage and destruction of natural materials;
- irrational consumption of the wealth of nature;
- destruction and degradation of ecological systems, complexes and natural landscapes;
- commission of other types of offenses, which are provided for by federal, regional and local legislation on the environmental environment.
Environmental rights and obligations of citizens of the Russian Federation indicate that the damage caused as a result of the implementation of economic work or any other type of activity is calculated according to certain rules. Depending on the region, it can be calculated using approved rates or other methods of calculating damage to the environment. If there are none, then the amount necessary for reimbursing the real costs of restoring nature is taken per unit. In this case, losses and lost profits may also be taken into account .
Compensation can be paid both voluntarily, in accordance with the decision of the supreme or arbitration court of the subject. All issues related to compensation for harm, as well as other environmental rights and obligations of citizens are regulated by the Constitution of the Russian Federation, Federal Law "On the Natural Environment", the Criminal Code and the Code of Administrative Offenses, as well as other legal acts.
The right to create organizations
Mostly the environmental rights and obligations of citizens of the Russian Federation are briefly presented in the Constitution of the state. This regulatory document, along with other opportunities and as one of the rights, proclaimed the right of citizens to establish public associations, foundations and other non-profit organizations that are authorized to carry out activities to protect the ecological environment.
The purpose of creating such organizations is to protect the natural environment from illegal encroachment both by other organizations and individuals. Moreover, such organizations represent one of the forms of exercising public control over compliance with environmental laws. These organizations also have the right to appeal to the court in order to prevent offenses and impose obligations to eliminate property damage.
Obligations of citizens of the Russian Federation in the field of environmental law
The legal status of each citizen of the country includes not only rights, but also certain obligations. Environmental rights and obligations of citizens and their associations, along with the right to a favorable environment, include the obligation to preserve it.
Responsibilities are imposed by the state and are associated with a certain rule of conduct. The imposition of a particular rule of behavior is associated with the needs arising in society and the need to regulate specific social relations. The general characteristics of the environmental rights and obligations of citizens include duties on the rational use of natural resources, responsibilities for restoring the disturbed ecology of the animal and plant world, for preventing environmental violations, and so on. The main list of duties of Russian citizens is as follows:
- the need to pay taxes and fees, which are enshrined in the Tax Code of the Russian Federation and are necessary for the successful financing of measures to protect and restore nature;
- take an active part in measures to protect the ecological environment, to restore it;
- comply with the stipulated environmental quality standards, legislative requirements, sanitary and epidemiological rules, ensure safety when carrying out this or that type of work, economic activity related to earth ecosystems;
- increase and protect natural resources and wealth;
- take part in the environmental education of the younger generation, improve the ecological culture of the population;
- comply with environmental laws;
- protect natural landscapes;
- comply with environmental regulations, comply with environmental prohibitions;
- enjoy real estate and environmental rights without harming the environment.
Fulfillment of assigned duties is ensured by sanctions, which are also established by the state. In case of violation of a legal norm, sanctions are applied to a citizen both by imposing an administrative fine and by bringing to criminal liability. Any measure of responsibility is imposed by decision or sentence of the court.
Relationship of environmental rights and obligations
The interconnection of environmental rights and duties of citizens is primarily expressed in the fact that, in the aggregate, these elements form the legal status of each citizen in the field of the natural environment. This concept, secondly, is an integral part of the general legal status of every citizen of Russia and foreign citizens, stateless persons and so on.
In addition, it is important to note that any right of a citizen is the duty of the state, the failure of which entails legal liability measures applied to officials. Exactly the same as non-fulfillment by a citizen of an assigned duty gives the state the right to apply sanctions defined by law.