The innovative compliance mechanism of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe’s environmental democracy treaty, the Aarhus Convention, was presented with new claims by one government and several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that certain Parties to the Convention are failing to comply with their obligations. The fifth meeting of the Compliance Committee, which took place in Geneva on 23-24 September 2004, learned that four new communications had been received since the Committee's last meeting in May 2004. Added to the five communications received in advance of the previous meeting, the mechanism now must deal with a total of nine communications from NGOs and individuals and, as yet, one government. It is the task of the Compliance Committee to investigate these claims, initially through a process of dialogue with the Parties concerned.
The Committee has not reached any conclusions as to whether any State is or is not in compliance.
The Compliance Committee will begin to address the merits of the communications at its sixth meeting, to be held in December 2004 in Geneva. The Committee’s Chairman, Prof. Veit Koester (Denmark), a distinguished veteran of negotiations on many international environmental treaties, has stated that “If and when the Committee does reach some conclusions, these will be referred to the Meeting of the Parties, which will be the final arbiter as to whether or not there is a case of non-compliance.”
The Committee has received a submission by the Government of Romania concerning compliance by the Government of Ukraine with the treaty. The communication, made on 7 June 2004, alleged violation by Ukraine of that provision that would ensure that the public affected or likely to be affected by the Bystroe Canal project in the Danube Delta was informed early in the decision-making procedure about the fact that the project was subject to a national and transboundary environmental impact assessment procedure. The Committee agreed to consider the issues side-by-side with the communication on the Bystroe Canal made by the Ukrainian NGO Ecopravo-Lviv on 5 May 2004.
The Committee also discussed issues related to the Committee’s Modus Operandi. In order to further facilitate public access to information related to compliance issues, the Committee agreed that communications which had, on a preliminary basis, been determined to be admissible should be posted on the website after they had been forwarded to the Parties concerned, with appropriate language indicating that their presence on the website did not imply endorsement of the content by the Committee or by UNECE.
The Aarhus compliance mechanism is unprecedented among multilateral environmental agreements in the extent to which it gives the public, including NGOs, a role in triggering a review of a Party’s compliance. The Aarhus Convention requires its Parties to guarantee the rights of the public to have access to information, to participate in decision-making and to have access to justice in matters related to the environment.
For more details, please visit www.unece.org/env/pp/compliance.htm or contact:
Mr. Jeremy WATES, Secretary to the Aarhus Convention
UNECE Environment and Human Settlements Division
Palais des Nations
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Phone: +41 (0)22 917 23 84
Fax: +41 (0)22 917 01 07
E-mail: [email protected]
