Aarhus Convention: meaning of the legal force
18.06.2008 | Publications
On
The
Aarhus Convention is an International treaty, which linked environmental rights
and human rights. The Convention establishes that sustainable
development can be achieved only through the involvement of all stakeholders.
It
focuses on interactions between the public and public authorities in a
democratic context and it is forging a new process for public participation in
the negotiation and implementation of international agreements.
Three pillars of the
The
Aarhus Convention grants citizens broad rights and imposes certain
responsibility on the public authorities in the area of ensuring access to the
ecological information and public participation in decision making process on
significant issues. The convention also provides for access to justice. These
clauses comprise so-called three pillars of the Aarhus Convention.
The
objective of the Convention is “the protection of the right of every person of
present and future generations to live in an environment adequate to his or her
well-being”. According to the Convention, the public authorities have to
provide the public with the environmental information in compliance with the
national legislation, when there is a request, and with copies of factual
documentation. The information has to be provided within the minimal period of
time (however not later than one month after such request was received).
The
Republic of Belarus signed the Aarhus Convention on 16 December 1998, it was
adopted by the Presidential Decree No 726 on 14 December 1999 and it entered
into legal force on 39 October 2001. Today 41 countries of the world joined the
Convention.
People need to know
In
the course of the past three years since the opening of the Aarhus Centre, the
number of addresses to the Aarhus Centre increased by 2.5.
When
the society is active and persistent, the public authorities have to react to
complaints, appeals and requests to provide with information.
The
Manager of the Centre, Olga Zakharova, says that the scope of public interests
of those who address to the Centre is very broad: requests for legal
consultations, informing about the violations of environmental legislation and concrete
complaints about certain issues. In the past five months of 2008 the Centre
provided consultations for 219 citizens and organizations.
The
most frequently enquiries come from
There
are still few cases of legal appeals to the court, Belarusian society knows
little about its ecological rights. State officials need to be educated and
frequently they are not aware of their responsibility to inform public.
Moreover, in order to file a complaint to a court, a fee has to be paid and few
people have finances for that. However there are recent positive examples when
public could achieve a lot.
The Prosecutor General
issued a warning to a Russian company
A
Russian private company
“August-Bel” starts construction of a pesticides production factory in the
Pukhovichi Region. Inhabitants of the villages Druzhny, Svislach, Rudensk,
Dukora and others protested against the construction of the plant. They didn’t
believe the official announcements and the results of the state expertise and were
insisting on the independent environmental assessment and holding a local
referendum regarding the necessity of the construction of this hazardous
production. “August-Bel” confirmed that all the relevant documents for
construction were obtained and that they were already seeking for construction
workers. The public submitted six thousand signatures against the construction
of the plant to the President of the country, Aleksandr Lukashenko, and filed a
complaint to the Office of the Prosecutor General.
On 28 August the General Prosecutor
reacted to the collective complaint of the inhabitants of the villages Druzhny
and Svisloch of the Pukhovichi Region, which indicated that while planning the
construction of the factory on production of poisonous chemicals the Aarhus
Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation
in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters was violated.
The General Prosecutor issued an
official warning to the head of the company “August-Bel” regarding un-acceptance
of the violation of the environmental legislation. The Head of the Press
Service of the General Prosecutor Office, Gennady Vertinski explained: “The
company which was placing the order did not fulfill its obligations, in
particular, providing the access of the public to the process of environmental
impact assessment. However the issue is not about the result of the environmental
impact assessment being positive or negative. There should be access to this
information”.
The leader of the initiative group
protesting against the construction of the poisonous chemicals plant, Sergey
Abrazovsky, thinks the Prosecutor’s office should have adopted another type of
document. To his point of view the Prosecutor Office was to send a special commission
consisting of lawyers to verify the documentation and to conduct an independent
environmental expertise.
In Biaroza the public achieved suspension of “Frandesa”
Public hearings took place in
January in Biaroza regarding production of pesticides at a foreign enterprise “Frandesa”,
a leader in Brest Oblast in 2007 in emissions of hazardous substances from
stationary points. The initiators of collecting signatures against “Frandesa”
had several achievements: attracted serious attention of the public
authorities, achieved suspension of production at the enterprise until
environmental assessment was finalized. However Israeli businessman B.Fritsalis
is planning to construct another production line.
Is a need for National
Referendum regarding the issue of NPP construction?
A
so called Anti-Nuclear group is active in Gorki Region, where public is
protesting against the construction of the Nuclear Power Plant and collecting
signatures. The Director of the Belarusian Representation of the Ecological
Foundation ISAR, Elena Layevskaya, says that the joint position of the Ministry
of Environment and independent experts regarding public participation in the
process of making decision on construction of a NPP has not yet been
elaborated. “Since the decision regarding the construction of a NPP would concern
all the population of Belarus, to comply with the provisions of the Aarhus
Convention, a Republican Referendum needs to be held”, thinks Mrs. Layevskaya.
The expert plans to address the Secretariat of the Aarhus Convention to receive
clarifications on this issue.
On
11-12 June the representatives of
Liudmila
Korsak
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03.01
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07.10
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22.09
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17.08
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12.08
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30.09
