Gábor Kecskés

24480959500

Publications - 5

The protection of nuclear installations in time of armed conflict-Old rules, new challenges

Gábor Kecskés

Publication Name: Hungarian Journal of Legal Studies

Publication Date: 2024-09-18

Volume: 64

Issue: 4

Page Range: 508-519

Description:

In 2022, for the first time in some while, the public around the world was confronted with an armed conflict between states, which directly involved a nuclear facility, specifically a nuclear power plant in operation. Unfortunately, the situation following Russia's armed attack on Ukraine on 24 February 2022 and the acts of war around the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant once again draw attention to the need to protect nuclear facilities during armed conflicts. Therefore, this paper reviews the relevant rules of public international law and scrutinizes the norms that have been established through international legislation and soft law mechanisms to protect and guarantee the nuclear safety and security of nuclear installations.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.1556/2052.2024.00511

There is no plan(et) B - environmental “crossroads’ of children’s rights”

Gábor Kecskés L. U.X. Ágnes

Publication Name: Hungarian Journal of Legal Studies

Publication Date: 2023-12-14

Volume: 64

Issue: 1

Page Range: 4-31

Description:

It is an obvious statement that children are disproportionately affected by changes in their environment, due to their incomplete maturity, evolving capacities, vulnerabilities derived from their age and special developmental needs. Changes in temperature, air and water quality, and access to proper nutrition are likely to have more severe and long-term impacts on children’s health, development and well-being, since they basically determine the enjoyment of the right of the child to a healthy environment. The impacts of climate change clearly undermine the effective enjoyment of the rights enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (hereinafter: UN CRC) and its Optional Protocols, including the rights to life, survival and development (art. 6), to family relations and the right not to be separated from one’s parents against one’s will (arts. 9–10), the highest attainable standard of health (art. 24), an adequate standard of living (art. 27), education (art. 28), freedom from any form of violence or exploitation (arts. 19, 32 and 34–36), the right to recreation and play (art. 31) and the enjoyment of one’s culture (art. 30). The climate crisis has been declared as child rights crisis, although children bear the least responsibility for it. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has clearly identified climate change as one of the biggest threats to children’s health and has urged States Parties to put children’s health concerns at the centre of their climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies.1 Despite data and research explicitly

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.1556/2052.2023.00440

The Legal Meaning of Environmental Sustainability – Do the Ecological SDGs Have Legal Status?

Gábor Kecskés

Publication Name: Chemical Engineering Transactions

Publication Date: 2023-01-01

Volume: 107

Issue: Unknown

Page Range: 481-486

Description:

The study deals with the legal implications and core meaning of environmental sustainability. Ecological sustainability is one of the three pillars of sustainability (the others are economic and social sustainability). By giving an in-depth analysis of the entire legal background of environmental sustainability, the study reveals the relevant normative basis of this concept in international law. Furthermore, it focuses on the implementation of the 2015-2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs or SDGs) as well. The SDGs are policy-based general commitments rather than binding and enforceable norms. However, their impacts are relevant to the findings of the United Nations member states’ policies. Nevertheless, the goals and the indicators and targets attached to the goals are crucial to achieving sustainability. The study examines the legal status as well as the legal relevance of the goals (and targets and indicators) of the eco-friendly SDGs. Then, the environmental sustainability issues will be analysed in an in-depth way. Bearing in mind the generally poor (or poorer than expected) state implementation of the SDGs, the study reveals the monitoring and review process of the SDGs.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.3303/CET23107081

The Hungarian Constitutional Court’s Decision on the Protection of Groundwater Decision No. 13/2018. (IX. 4.) AB of the Constitutional Court of Hungary

Gábor Kecskés

Publication Name: Hungarian Yearbook of International Law and European Law

Publication Date: 2020-01-01

Volume: 8

Issue: 1

Page Range: 371-382

Description:

On 28 August 2018, the Constitutional Court of Hungary delivered a milestone decision [Decision No. 13/2018. (IX. 4.) AB] in relation to the protection of groundwater with reference to the general protection of the environment as a constitutionally protected value. The President of the Republic pointed out in his petition to the Constitutional Court that two sections of the draft legislation are contrary to the Fundamental Law by violating Articles B(1), P(1) and XXI(1) of the Fundamental Law by permitting water abstraction with much lower standards. Adopted by the majority along with concurring and dissenting opinions, the decision is an important judicial achievement in the general framework of constitutional water and environmental protection. It also confirms the non-derogation principle elaborated by the Constitutional Court. The Constitutional Court had the opportunity and an ‘open mind’ to take into consideration numerous sources of scientific professional evidence on the stock of water and groundwater abstraction. The decision was acclaimed for its environmental orientation, and even more, for developing the 25-year old standards of constitutional review in environmental matters by elaborating on the implicit substance of several articles enshrined in the new Fundamental Law (e.g. Articles P and XXI).

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.5553/HYIEL/266627012020008001022

The concepts of state responsibility and liability in nuclear law

Gábor Kecskés

Publication Name: Acta Juridica Hungarica

Publication Date: 2008-06-01

Volume: 49

Issue: 2

Page Range: 221-252

Description:

The legal concept and the doctrinal theory of state responsibility and liability have been in the focus of public international law for a long while. By means of domestic legislation, national law-regardless of the relevance of the international legal framework-governs the system of civil liability within the area of civil law of each state. Whereas, as opposed to the framework of civil liability governed by diverse domestic rules, exclusively a standard regulation framed at an inter-state level can secure a uniform system of state liability. The issue of state responsibility for nuclear damages raises specific questions to be examined in the framework of general international regulations (e.g., Conventions adopted within the area of nuclear law) related to responsibility and liability. Thus, answering or the clarification of these specific pivotal questions within the scope of public international law shall be our starting point, which may also entail the modification of the matter of state responsibility and liability (not only in the concerned branch of law). © 2008 Akadémiai Kiadó.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.1556/AJur.49.2008.2.4