At its regular meeting in Geneva on 25-27 September, the Compliance Committee of the Aarhus Convention, considered the report of the Ministry of Environment of Belarus on measures to implement the recommendations that have been given in connection with the construction of nuclear power plants and power plant Neman. In June 2011, the Compliance Committee of the Aarhus Convention declared that Belarus had violated a number of basic provisions in the construction of the Neman hydroelectric and nuclear power plants Ostrovetskaya and gave her recommendations for changes to legislation and law enforcement. And, as the violation concerned the limitations of the public in environmental law, and recommendations were partly aimed at the restoration of these rights.
Belarusian Ministry submitted to the Committee as the report on the implementation of recommendations about a draft law regulating the discussion with the public environmental decision-making. Experts of the Committee noted that some recommendations really made the adoption of proposed legislation, but a number of other remains unfulfilled and is not reflected in the proposed activities Belarus.
In particular, repealing old legislation governing public participation in decision-making in the nuclear field, Belarus has not taken any other legislation, says Andrew Andrusevych , lawyer of the European "Eco-Forum." At the same time, he said, the current legislation has not reflected the recommendation of the Committee on the definition of what kind of decision is final with respect to the construction of nuclear power plants. According to Jerzy Jendroska , curator of the case on the Belarusian nuclear power plant in the Compliance Committee of the Aarhus Convention, was not considered and the recommendation of the Committee in connection with the construction of nuclear power plants to provide the decision-maker, recommendations and suggestions of the public in its entirety.
Despite some positive developments in the legislative sphere, regulating the protection of the environmental rights of citizens of Belarus continues to violate the Aarhus Convention in the construction of nuclear power plants. The most egregious examples are the refusal to provide information to the public, in particular, the case when a group of young environmentalists were not allowed to plant information center. This view is presented to the Committee Public Association "Eco-Home".
After a discussion of the Belarusian issue, members of the Compliance Committee of the Aarhus Convention, considered that the negative view of law enforcement and the results of the recommendations of Belarus does not exclude the possibility of changes in the recommendations themselves.
"However, these recommendations are, in my opinion, should be expanded and fleshed out in the field of law enforcement in connection with the construction of nuclear power plants, such as the recommendations of the committee Espoo. Nuclear energy the most environmentally dangerous, why it is essential to take into account the opinion of citizens, that is to perform international environmental conventions. However, where citizens' opinion is taken into account, such as Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Lithuania, and several states in the U.S. nuclear power plants are not built, " - said ecologist Tatiana Novikova to the site charter97.org .
