Aarhus Convention Signatories Discuss Future of Treaty

October 3, 2000

One of the questions addressed at the second session of the Signatories to the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters, recently held in Dubrovnik, Croatia, was whether the convention should be extended globally. In its present form, the convention, which is expected to enter into force in 2001, is a regional treaty negotiated under the aegis of the UN Economic Commission for Europe.

The convention, derived from Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, which provides that each individual shall have access to information concerning the environment held by public authorities, is made up of three components. The first, dealing with "the right to know" sets rules and requirements for governments to disclose environmental and other relevant information to the public. The second lays out how public interest groups can participate in environmental decision-making. The third deals with the right of the public to seek judicial remedy for non-compliance by governments with legal obligations established by the first two components. Essentially, the convention opens the doors to broad citizen involvement in the process by which environmental decisions are made as a way to combat governmental environmental mismanagement.

For many proponents of the environmental rights of civil society groups, reformulating the content of the Aarhus Convention into a global treaty is a logical next step. An obvious occasion for initiating this process is the ninth session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development in the Spring of 2001 where the subject of information to decision-makers will be on the agenda.

An interesting development at Dubrovnik was a decision by NGOs in a pre-session meeting not to push for such action. One explanation for this position was that processes designed for application in industrialized countries might not be applicable in the developing world.

NGOs played a central role in drafting the convention, participating not in parallel fashion as is often the case but enjoying the status of full partners in the process. This role was reflected in the Dubrovnik meeting where NGOs participated fully in the discussions and were permitted to contribute texts for inclusion in the official report.

Perhaps more important, the meeting agreed to establish a Bureau of seven persons, one of which is a representative of environmental NGOs. The Bureau is to assist the Chair in preparing for the next meeting. Thus, NGOs attained a new important political profile. Despite the fact that the convention provides for the public generally to seek judicial remedies for non-compliance with its provision, no similar representation on the Bureau was accorded to any other major group identified in Agenda 21 of the Rio Conference on Environment and Development.

Editor: William J. Stibravy, Permanent Representative of the ICC to the U.N., c/o the U.S. Council for International Business.

A production of the U.N. Liaison Offices (New York/Geneva - Mr. John Kraus) of the International Chamber of Commerce and of the staff of the U.S. Council for International Business (New York).