CYIL Vol. 7, 2016

CYIL 7 ȍ2016Ȏ DO THE EUROPEANS HAVE THE RIGHT TO GET INFORMATION ABOUT… in the context of state security. Secondly, the article will reveal the contents of the international legal rules regarding the right to information about the environment in the case of the construction of a nuclear power plant. Thirdly, the situation of the construction of a nuclear power plant in Ostrovets, Belarus, will be analyzed. 1. The Right to Information about the Environment in the Context of National and Individual Security 1.1 The Significance of the Right to Information in the Context of National Security Some scientists argue that the purpose of the contemporary state is to satisfy and combine the interests and aims of various social groups, to seek social compromise and harmony, to ensure human rights and freedoms, to guarantee public interest. 2 Since the state may be defined as the union of human beings living in a particular territory and belonging to one political rule, therefore one of the main tasks of the state is to ensure the needs of its members. One of the main needs of a person is security, as defined by A. Maslow. 3 Therefore the state ensures or seeks to ensure the safety of individuals by various forms and methods, especially by legislative and jurisdictional functions. The accessibility of the information, its accuracy and the timely provision of information may increase both objective and subjective safety in contemporary societies. The right to get information about the environment is closely related to state security as a whole. Speaking about security, this is defined in the objective sense by the absence “of any threat to the valuables possessed and in the subjective sense – the absence of fear that these valuables will be attacked.” 4 While defining the term “security”, the main question arises – that of the object of security; in other words, we have to answer the question: “whose security”? The traditional theory of security is based on the idea that all the members of society or individual interests are subordinate to the interest of the state. 5 The main aim is to protect the state from the threat of military aggression, to ensure the territorial integrity of the state. The traditionalists fear that “widening the definition of security risks will render the concept redundant by making it too all-encompassing and diluting the important task of analysing military threats and inter-state conflict.” 6 The problem with the traditional theory lies in the fact that a secure state does not necessarily mean 2 ALFONSAS VAIŠVILA, Teisinės valstybės koncepcija Lietuvoje (Vilnius: Litimo, 2000) 579. 3 SAUL MCLEOD ‘Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs’ (2014) accessed 20 May 2016. 4 A. WOLFERS, Discord and Collaboration , Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 1964, 150. 5 BIRUTĖ PRANEVIČIENĖ ‘Limiting of the Right to Privacy in the Context of Protection of National Security’ (2011) 18(4) Jurisprudence 1614-1615. 6 PETER HOUGH Environmental Security. An Introduction . Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group. London and New York. 2014, 22.

359