On February 8th 2022, the Center for Legal Research and Analysis held a discussion on the topic “The role of the Constitutional Court in protecting the right to a healthy environment”, which was attended by representatives from the platform for environmental justice and the Blueprint group – for judicial reforms. The main speakers at the event were the academician, Mr. Vlado Kambovski and Mrs. Elena Mujoska Trpevska, research associate from MANU. Representatives from CLRA were Mr. Nikola Jovanovski – program manager and Mrs. Ana Vasileva – project assistant.
The discussion began with a presentation by the CLRA project manager, Jovanovski, who briefly emphasized that the right to a healthy environment is a guaranteed constitutional right according to the highest legal act in the country and the same should be consistently achieved. In that direction, he stated that through the organization of debates and the expansion of public discourse, with the participation of all relevant stakeholders in the area of environmental protection, it will be possible to advance the right to a healthy environment through the implementation and respect of the constitutional and legal instruments for Environmental Protection.
The first speaker of the event, Academician Vlado Kambovski, stated that although the right to a healthy environment was relatively late incorporated into the Constitution of the country, it was gradually intensified as a civil right, following European documents and international standards for respect for human rights. According to Acad. Kambovski, guaranteeing this right will have implications on the entire system of the state from the aspect of guaranteeing formal legal documents and regulations for the promotion and protection of the right to a healthy environment. The guarantee of this right expressed not only through the adoption of new regulations and respect for the existing ones, but also mandates the active involvement of state authorities in the decision-making process for a violated or threatened right to a healthy environment. He briefly gave a comparative review of the right to a healthy environment, noting that the states approach and treat the formal legal and material aspects of this right differently. Certain countries foresee the right not as a subjective right, but as a general right, without giving a more specific direction for its protection, while other countries also envisage the procedural aspect of that right, i.e. court proceedings as a procedural guarantee for the protection of the same. He also stated that the right to a healthy environment should correspond to the European principle of sustainable development, i.e. undertaking activities that should satisfy the needs of the current generations, alluding in the first place to the right to a healthy environment without endangering the rights and the needs of future generations, although the stated principle has not yet been incorporated in our Constitution. Acad. Kambovski stated that it should be explained in domestic regulations what is meant by the right to a healthy environment, whether it covers not only man but also the entire living world in the broader sense of the word, under the hypothesis that it could hypothetically be threatened by man? In certain countries, the concept of a healthy environment covers the entire living world, not only humans, striving for full protection of the environment. According to him, our Constitution still does not have a clear conception of what it wants to declare as the value of protection, even though the right to a healthy environment is declared in it.
The next presentation was given by Prof. Dr. Elena Mujoska Trpeska, who gave an overview of the submitted initiatives before the Constitutional Court for the evaluation of constitutionality and legality in the period from 2005 to 2021. At the beginning, Mrs. Mujoska Trpeska raised a very important question, that is, the existence of a constitutional complaint/lawsuit that represents a legal means for protecting the freedoms and rights of citizens before the Constitutional Court.
In a large number of countries, this constitutional lawsuit or appeal is accepted, but this is not the case here. The expert public in our country is divided on this issue, as on many issues, according to some, in our system for the protection of human rights and freedoms, there is a requirement for the protection of man and citizens prescribed in the Rules of Procedure of the Constitutional Court, which is based on Article 110 paragraph 3 of the Constitution, which would cover the institute constitutional complaint/lawsuit. The second category of experts believe that it is necessary to introduce such a mechanism in the protection system, which all countries in the region have already accepted.
In the second segment of her presentation, Prof. Dr. Mujoska Trpeska gave attention on the elaboration of the submitted initiatives before the Constitutional Court. The small number of submissions from 2006 to 2009 is indicative, which then increases in the following years. It is also interesting that in the first years only one person appears as the submitter of these initiatives, while the largest number of initiators are from Skopje.
At the end of the discussion, all those present expressed satisfaction with the presence and aspiration for further participation in the process of consistent application and protection of the constitutional legal guarantees of the right to a healthy environment.
