OSCE promotes the Aarhus Convention on the environment

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) held a workshop on Monday in the Kazakh commercial capital, Almaty, on ways of implementing the Aarhus Convention in the country. The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Convention on access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice about environmental issues was adopted on 25 June 1998 in the Danish city of Aarhus at the fourth ministerial conference in the "Environment for Europe" process. "We discussed whether the [Kazakh] legislation was in line with the Convention. We made some analysis and as a result we concluded that Kazakhstan doesn't need any extra law for the implementation of the Convention," Larissa Neufeld, economic and environmental officer with OSCE, told IRIN from Almaty. The Aarhus Convention is an environmental agreement linking environmental rights and human rights and acknowledging obligations to future generations. It holds that sustainable development can be achieved only through the involvement of all stakeholders. "Citizens clearly have an interest in being informed about their environment, to participate in decision-making about environmental matters and to bring alleged breaches of environmental legislation before the courts, as the status of their local environment has a direct impact on them and their children's living conditions and health," Annica Carlsson, OSCE coordinator for economic and environmental activities, told IRIN on Wednesday. The OSCE, in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), is supporting the strengthening of public information centres or so-called Aarhus Centres throughout Central Asia and the Caucasus. The Kazakh Ministry of the Environment is studying a proposal to open such a centre in Almaty, similar to one which has already been operating in Tajikistan for a year, to assist the government in implementing the Aarhus Convention and provide a bridge between the government and civil society and the general public, according to the OSCE official. Neufeld explained that the issue of access to information was also discussed at the meeting, as many officials didn't know about the provisions of the Convention. It was decided to tackle this by providing information and guidelines on its provisions for the public and for government officials. Also aiming to raise awareness about the provisions of the Convention, the OSCE centre in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek is organising a series of meetings across Kyrgyzstan which will involve representatives of local administrations, offices of the Public Prosecutor and the courts, local NGOs as well as parliamentarians and the media. The seminars will take place in Osh on 17-18 June, Talas on 21-22 June and Karakol on 24-25 June with the collaboration of experts from Tajikistan and Kazakhstan who will share their experience on implementing the Convention in their countries.