Justice is served?
Without public recourse to a court of law or administrative proceeding, the first two pillars of the Aarhus Convention (i.e. access to information and public participation in decision-making) mean little or nothing at all. Unfortunately, however, legal recourse granted to citizens in some parts of Europe can often be denied to citizens in other parts. Germia, a green NGO based in Pristina, Kosovo, is one such organisation that has discovered the narrow confines of its present legal situation.
When the Kosovo Parliament decided to embark on construction of an administration and protocol centre in a protected wooded area, the Germia Coalition was established as a joint initiative of environmental NGOs in an effort to stop the construction. Even though an environmental impact assessment (EIA) was carried out on the proposed project, the Pristina City Council granted a building permit without holding a public hearing.
"By building the administrative and protocol centre, all the environmental regulations and laws were ignored, as well as the urban plans for this zone," said Germia Coalition member Nehat Bllacaku.
Germia would have had a very strong opportunity to challenge the procedure in a different legal setting. What developed instead was a classic example what can happen without a proper mechanism in place to achieve acceptable levels of access to justice.
"Given the disregard of the persons responsible, we decided to resort to the court system," Bllacaku explained, "including the Supreme Court and Pristina's District Court, which is responsible for the zone in question. We gathered all necessary proof against construction of the building, but the process was slow and difficult."
Bllacaku added that, in the end, the Supreme Court rejected Germia's appeal, arguing that the NGO — not being the owner of the land in question — had no standing to bring the case to court.
The lower courts later challenged Germia's legal status, either out of ignorance or a willingness to exploit the NGO's lack of legal expertise. According to the Aarhus Convention, anyone — including individual citizens and environmental NGOs — would have the right of access to justice in such a case. Nonetheless, in this instance, the centre was completed by the time it took Germia to exhaust its court possibilities, which in a more mature legal environment would result in suspension or termination of the construction project.
"The District Court, to this day, has not conducted an inquiry into this case. The local courts aren't yet independent from external influences," said Bllacaku.
As part of a project, the REC held a training workshop for NGOs, judges and representatives of ombudsmen's offices to help tackle some of these difficulties. The general aim of the session was to help participants identify: violations of rights and procedures; standing requirements related to cases under discussion; injunctive relief and other legal remedies; best possible strategies for making appeals or initiating court cases; and overcoming barriers to accessing justice.
With much of SEE exposed to several forms of air, water, soil and waste-related pollution, the UNECE Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTRs) has become an important tool for informing members of the public about the status of their environment.
Using a comprehensive database, people can gather the knowledge and information needed to effect change and influence environmental decision-making in an informed and constructive way.
As part of the Aarhus project, the REC organised a three-day study tour in the Czech Republic, home to one of the region's best integrated pollution registers. In late 2006, selected participants — including ministry officials, agency representatives and authorities from Albania, Montenegro and Serbia — convened at the Czech Environmental Information Agency, where they were given practical, hands-on training in database building, operation and maintenance. They also had the opportunity to hear several experts address a wide range of PRTR-related topics.
It was stressed at the event that NGOs play an important role in serving the public's environmental needs, and that active NGO involvement will advance the cause of bringing the benefits of PRTR expertise and technology to the SEE region.
