Are Ukrainian Aware of Their Environmental Safety Rights
On June 25 three years ago European ministers of the environment who gathered in the Danish city of ° Arhus at the fourth Pan-European conference called Environment For Europe signed the ° Arhus Convention. For the first time in the history of international law, public organizations represented by the NUO Coalition took an active part in drafting, debating and approving the convention which was finally signed by 35 states, Ukraine included.
The convention guarantees free access to information on how safe the environment in which people live is; the right to receive the kind of information they need without explaining the reasons why they want such information; participation in decision-making; timely information on any decisions taken; and access to court to anyone who believes his/her environment safety rights have been infringed. Information on emissions cannot be confidential.
The goal of this document was completely in tune with the priorities of the Committee for Environmental Policy Issues. However, implementing the convention in Ukraine has met with some difficulties. Without any specified procedure of public hearings, many of the convention’s recommendations remain on paper due the lack of mechanisms for their implementation. The present economic decline in Ukraine, low standards of education in environmental law, along with insufficient involvement of the judicial and law enforcement agencies in protecting environmental safety rights of Ukrainians could not but tell on the implementation of this convention.
According to Director of the Zelene Dosiye (Green Dossier) Information and Publishing Center Tamara Malkova, Ukrainians are either unaware of their environmental rights or do not believe that they can protect them in court.
To gauge how Ukrainians know their environmental rights, I approached Borys Vasylkivsky, head of the EkoPravo-Kyiv public environmental law organization. He said, “The environmental legislation of Ukraine envisions public involvement in the decision-making process and the local authorities have a commitment to provide a safe environment to Ukrainians. Very often, however, this commitment exists only on paper as there is no procedure for implementing environmental standards in reality. Presently, our organization is working jointly with Kyiv council’s environmental commission to develop a draft procedure which will specify the role of public in environmental protection programs. This is our joint project with our partners, the UK-based ERM Ltd., within the framework of a program for small environmental projects, SEPS, implemented in Ukraine by the UK Department for International Development. This program is coordinated by the British Council in Ukraine. The procedure, when approved, will make it possible for the public to take part in construction projects, reconstruction of city parks, and cutting down trees. The procedure provides for consensus decision-making, given disagreement of the public with executive decisions.
To date, three high profile cases of infringement on the environmental rights of Ukrainians can be cited. The first case originated in Chernihiv between 1995 and 1997 when the Filaniuk family residing in the safety area near the Chernihiv power plant sued the local authorities for damage to their health caused by environmentally dangerous factors. Following the court ruling, the family was moved to a new apartment in a safer area. Other locals living in the same place who did not appeal to court continue to live in the same area.
Another case took place in Odesa in 1998-2001. The Luzanivka (suburb of Odesa) authorities built a sewage collector but feces regularly leaked to flood the area adjoining the village. Moreover, there was a facility for cleansing oil cisterns 50 meters from Luzanivka and hazardous leaks from it polluted the air. 82 residents of Luzanivka filed charges against the local authorities. Although the court has not completed considering the case, the authorities have already removed the cleansing facility outside the city and fixed the sewage collector.
The third case originated in Pyrohovo in 1999-2000. The town garbage dumpsite, which incidentally contained radioactive waste, was found to be the cause of a growing cancer rate and on November 17, 1999 128 residents of Pyrohovo filed suit. Although the court officials refused to try the case, saying it was beyond their authority, already on November 25 Kyiv Mayor Oleksandr Omelchenko issued instructions to move the residents from Pyrohovo and provide alternative housing in Kyiv.
These are isolated success stories and the major problem lies in the fact that Ukrainians are ignorant of their environmental rights. Our organization has proposed to the city authorities to set up environmental education centers on city streets where residents can be advised on environmental issues. So far, we have got only a negative oral response citing tense political situation in the city as a cause for refusal.
P.S. Tamara Malkova said that Estonia has recently become the fifteenth state to ratify the ° Arhus Convention. As soon as there are 16 participants, the convention will come into effect on the territory of the UN European Economic Commission, that is, in Eurasia. Spain is now preparing to ratify the convention, with the document submitted for the parliament’s approval.
