Current aspects regarding international and national liability for acts that affect the right to a healthy environment

• Author: Daniel-Stefan Paraschiv
• Position: Faculty of Law and Public Administration, Râmnicu Vâlcea, 'Spiru Haret' University, Râmnicu Vâlcea, Romania
• Pages: 124-129

AGORA International Journal of Juridical Sciences, www.juridicalj ournal.univagora.ro

ISSN 1843-570X, E-ISSN 2067-7677

No. 1 (2013), pp. 124-129

124

CURRENT ASPECTS REGARDING INTERNATIONAL AND

NATIONAL LIABILITY FOR ACTS THAT AFFECT THE RIGHT TO A

HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT

D. . Paraschiv

Daniel-tefan Paraschiv

Faculty of Law and Public Administration, Râmnicu Vâlcea,

“Spiru Haret” University, Râmnicu Vâlcea, Romania

*Correspondence: Daniel-tefan Paraschiv, Râmnicu Vâlcea,

30 General Magheru St., Vâlcea, Romania

E-mail: drept_vl.paraschiv.daniel@spiruharet.ro

Abstract

Even if in the remote past, international right manifested itself quite reluctant in

accepting and, in materializing the international state liability, for damages brought to the

environment, in the second half of the 20th century, in this domain several legal international

universal or regional instruments were adopted, implying a general or special character, the

problem of environment protection becoming one of the major preoccupations of the

international community, which was faced with the catastrophic effects of some events which

had a devastating result upon the environment, such as: the accidents of the Torry Canyon

tanker vessels in the year 1967, Exxon Valdez in the year 1992, Prestige in the year 2002, the

accident from the Sandoz plants in Switzerland and, not least, the nuclear accident at

Chernobyl (Ukraine) since 1986.

Key-words: international liability, environmentright, environmental pollution,

environment international law, protection.

Introduction

The prolonged pollution of the natural environment determined the accumulation of

contemporary ecological problems, which manifest by disharmony between the created and

the natural environment, producing not only the destruction of ecological balance, but also

an adverse reaction, of the type of a boomerang, the environment becoming less favorable for

achieving the social and economic activities, for the human life, which can no longer be

considered the biosphere center. For that reason, the states need to collaborate in order to

establish, at an international level, the most adequate measures meant to ensure protection

and improvement of the environment which implies not only material and organizational

efforts, but also the development of certain scientific conceptions meant to determine a new

attitude towards the environment, based on the reconciliation of humans with nature.

Basic principles regarding international liability for facts that affect the

environment

In the domain of environment law, the international liability has a reduced impact and

presents numerous particularities, the major objective being the prevention of degradation, as

ecological damages, are regularly irreversible or difficult to control and evaluate

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, and the cost

1

For example, the nuclear accident in Cernobyl (Ukraine, 130 km NW of Kiev), from the date of 26th April

1986, when reactor no. 4 of the energy-nuclear po werplant from Cernobyl exploded during tests and whose

effects were devastating. Another accident, from a more recent date (March 2011 ), is from the nuclear Japan

powerplant in Fukushima that experts in the domain consider more serious that the one in Cernobyl as it lasted