Access to justice in environmental matters - comparative analysis of Russian and Swedish legal practices

Abstract

The concept of "environmental human rights" is gradually gaining support in wider academic and policy circles, but it remains an emerging and essentially contested notion. One of such right is the right to access to justice in environmental matters, which is established in the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters. However, the level of the accessibility of justice, rules on the environmental litigation and in general the concept of environmental law differ from country to country. This paper examines the right of access to justice in environmental matters in Russia and Sweden through the mechanisms of standing before the court and litigation costs.