환경인권에 관한 소고

Abstract

The concept of human rights can be understood as the same with basic citizen’s right that appeared along with the birth of the natural right since the modern civil revolutions which collapsed the feudal monarchic system. The basic human rights of the ruled over the ruler have been recognized as a non-aggression or inalienable by anybody. Since the Industrial Revolution of the western countries in the 18th century, environmental pollution and deterioration by use and development of land caused by human industrial activities caused risk to local residents, adjacent countries and the very existence of global human kind at large, which had to bring about the concept of environmental human rights internationally. From 1970s onward at a time when the environmental issues arose internationally, studies on environmental human rights have been mainly carried out by researchers on the international law. Considering the blocking of waste move-in to the metropolitan area landfill by residents of Gimpo, Saemangeum land reclamation project and Milyang power line cases, it is the time to consider the theorization of environmental human rights in domestic laws. However, studies on environmental human rights from the perspective of domestic laws have not been active yet. Environmental human rights are an integrated concept between environmental protection and human rights thanks to the recognition after 1960~70s that environment and human lift are inseparable and that human rights cannot be truly realized without protection of environment. It is a human right based approach to environmental protection and also a defensive concept against environmental intrusion causing reverse effect on human existence. Environmental human rights are upper and wider level beyond the right to environment in the positive law which can be said as natural rights that human may have in relation to environment. In other words, environmental human rights contain environmental rights but also have wider scope. Environmental human rights are the rights requesting for human being who have to live under the influence of environment not to be infringed environment by the government or the 3rd party. Such concept of environmental human rights has been actively discussed in the international human rights acts and international environmental acts that were actively developed through many international treaties after the World War II such as Stockholm Declaration in 1972 and the European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights in 1950. Environmental human rights are classified as the 3rd generation human rights which are different from the 1st and 2nd generation human rights in which individual is the subject. Environmental human rights are closely related to the concept of environmental justice. For the USA, the environmental human rights movement was developed when seeking the discrimination between black residential areas and white residential areas in relation to the location of environmentally harmful facility such as the incineration plant. Therefore, environmental human rights have been used as almost same meaning with the environmental justice. In Korea, the problem of environmental human rights become a social issue in relation to the conflict with adjacent residents due to destruction of the eco system by the construction of high speed railway and the construction of ultrahigh pressure power line. As environmental human rights consist of rights of healthy environment and accessibility right on environmental information, the accessibility right on environmental information is procedural human rights, which is essential to secure substantive human rights, to secure residence participation on policy decision and to monitor government or civil activities. The conflict of Milyang power line is a representative example that demonstrates the reality of human rights which were originally ignited by environmental problem in Korea.