On 2 July 2014, the Meeting of Parties will adopt a decision on compliance with the Convention by 14 countries including Ukraine. The unique mechanism of compliance with the Convention – the Compliance Committee – started its work back in 2002 and it is a body that can be addressed not only by the Parties to the Convention but also by the public. In 2005 International charitable organization Environment-People-Law addressed the Compliance Committee that reviewed the case and produced conclusions and recommendations for Ukraine, which later were supported by the 2nd Meeting of Parties in 2005. In 2008 and 2011 the Meeting of Parties stated the second and the third time that recommendations of the Committee were not implemented.
The draft decision of the 5th Meeting of the Parties on Ukraine for the fourth (!) time states that Ukraine ignores recommendations regarding proper implementation of provisions of the Aarhus Convention on public participation expressed by outstanding independent experts in the sphere of environmental law that constitute the Committee. In view of this, the 5th Meeting of Parties plans to maintain the caution that is currently in place since 2011.
Moreover, the Meeting of Parties once again warned Ukraine that in case of failure to fully implement the decision of 2005 and the recommendations of the Committee, in 2017 the Meeting of Parties will consider depriving Ukraine of special rights and privileges granted to Ukraine within the Convention. The Meeting of Parties was supposed to consider this issue at the current session but recognizing and supporting the democratic processes that took place in Ukraine at the end of 2013 and beginning 2014, the Parties to the Convention decided to postpone deciding the issue of application to Ukraine of the most stringent sanction until the next session hoping that Europe-oriented government and parliament of Ukraine will finally adopt the long-awaited legislation needed for bringing Ukraine into compliance with the Convention.
Unlike the Ukrainian delegation in Chisinau, the current official Ukrainian delegation most likely will not object and will agree with the decision of the MOP. The draft decision on Ukraine that has not been modified by the Working group of the Parties, most likely will be adopted as it is, available at the web-site of the Aarhus Convention in English and Russian. The English version of the draft decision can be found here.
In view of the events in Maastricht we should mention the relevant national processes, in particular the draft law on environmental impact assessment (registered in the Parliament at #4972). Despite the fact that Ukraine really has to implement an effective mechanism of environmental impact assessment as soon as possible because of a number of international obligations of the country, international charitable organization Environment-People-Law does not support this legislative initiative. In our opinion, general formulation of its provisions and lack of vitally important details will not improve the current situation in the country with public participation in the process of decision-making on specific projects. In such a situation international charitable organization Environment-People-Law urges members of the Parliament, public officials and the public of Ukraine to elaborate legislative mechanisms of environmental impact assessment, in particular concerning the procedures of public participation and transboundary assessment as well as regarding ensuring guarantees of access to justice in this sphere, which is envisaged by the Aarhus Convention and the EU Directive on EIA. The decision of the MOP allows Ukraine to lift the current caution by the 6th meeting (2017) if Ukraine realizes its tasks and informs the Secretariat about this by the end of 2015. In fact, having granted to Ukraine another year and a half, the Parties to the Convention stimulate Ukraine to do deep expert work and wide expert consultations in the process of developing legislative basis in the sphere of environmental impact assessment and public participation. Moreover, the Meeting of the Parties invited Ukraine to present the texts of the draft laws for the review of the Compliance Committee at any time until March 2015 for the Committee to evaluate them and, if necessary, to provide assistance so that the meeting in Maastricht becomes the last one where Ukraine was found to be in non-compliance with its obligations in the sphere of human rights and the environment.
International charitable organization Environment-People-Law sincerely hopes that democratic transformations in Ukraine will also cover the sphere of environmental protection and the process of legislation transformation and the practice will be both professional and transparent.
For further information please contact:
Yelyzaveta Alekseyeva
Head of information and analytical department
International charitable organization Environment-People-Law (EPL)
email: [email protected]
John Bonine
Chair of the Executive Board
International charitable organization Environment-People-Law (EPL)
email: [email protected]
