May Energy Justice Enhance Human Rights Protection in the European Union?

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.46282/blr.2025.9.1.1027

Keywords:

Human Rights, Human Security, Energy Justice, Sustainable Development, Human Dignity, Access to Energy, Energy Poverty

Abstract

Energy justice, sustainable environment and human rights became the leading factors of some of the sustainable development goals set as the common goal of international community. The contemporary greening process is interconnecting with number of transformations in decision-making and policies. Greening process and its integral part, access to energy as the tool for preventing energy poverty is related with human rights. We assume, that access to energy is fundamental to meet basic human needs and existing human rights necessitates access to energy. The European Union is perceived as the key regional leader in greening process, by adoption of EU Green Deal. At the same time, the European Union has also the ambition to be human rights actor. Both these goals are led by declarations of the European Union and obligations of its Member States internationally. The paper presents outcomes of quantitative and qualitative research focused on the question, how the energy justice is conditioning the effective exercise of other rights guaranteed by international human rights treaties, within the European Union environment.

Author Biographies

  • Lucia Mokrá, Comenius University Bratislava

    Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences
    Mlynské luhy 4,
    821 05 Bratislava, Slovakia
    lucia.mokra@uniba.sk

  • Donald Wertlen , Comenius University Bratislava

    Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences
    Mlynské luhy 4,
    821 05 Bratislava, Slovakia
    donald.wertlen@fses.uniba.sk

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08.07.2025

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May Energy Justice Enhance Human Rights Protection in the European Union?. (2025). Bratislava Law Review, 9(1), 151-166. https://doi.org/10.46282/blr.2025.9.1.1027

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