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INECE News |
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Introducing the Aarhus Convention: A new international law on citizen’s environmental rights |
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On June 25, 1998, Environment Environment Ministers from all over Europe and Central Asia adopted a new international treaty aimed at strengthening democratic accountability in the field of the environment: the UNECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters. It was adopted in the Danish city of Aarhus at the Fourth Ministerial Conference in the Environment for Europe process, and signed by thirty-five countries and the European Community. The resulting Convention is open for accession by countries outside of the UNECE region and is sparking intense interest in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The Aarhus Convention has long-reaching implications for citizen participation in environment enforcement. Not only does it require Parties to provide the prerequisites to citizen enforcement, such as access to information and timely participation in environmental decision-making, the Convention also focuses specifically on access to justice in environmental matters empowering citizens and NGOs to assist in the enforcement of law. Access to information appeals: A person whose request for information has not been dealt with to their satisfaction must be provided with access to an expeditious review procedure before a court of law which is free of charge or inexpensive. Final decisions must be binding on the public authority holding the information, and the reasons must be stated in writing where information is refused. Public participation appeals: The Convention provides for a right to seek review in connection with decision-making on projects or activities. The review may address either the substantive or the procedural legality of a decision. General violations of environmental law: The Convention requires Parties to provide access to administrative or judicial procedures to challenge acts and commissions by private persons and public authorities which breach laws relating to the environment. Such access is to be provided to members of the public meeting any national criteria for standing. Other access to justice requirements: Procedures are required to be fair, equitable, timely and not prohibitively expensive, including consideration of assistance to remove or reduce financial and/or other barriers. Decisions must be given or recorded in writing, and in the case of court decisions, made publicly accessible. An Implementation Guide to the Aarhus Convention, co-authored by the Regional Environ-mental Center for Central and Eastern Europe and the Environmental Law Institute will be published by the UNECE in December 1999. The following websites have more information on the Aarhus Convention: www.unece.org, www.rec.org, and www.participate.org. Prepared by Susan Casey-Lefkowitz, Senior Attorney, Environmental Law Institute. |