Public Workshop on Aarhus Convention - Your Right to a Healthy Environment

dublin | environment | event notice Friday December 06, 2013 23:22 by IEN

Public workshop - Dublin, Saturday 7th December

Public workshops on accessing your rights under the Aarhus Convention have recently been held in Cork and Galway, and tomorrow there will be a final public workshop in Dublin, in the Radisson Blu Hotel, Golden Lane, from 10 to 4. The workshop will help ordinary citizens to understand their rights and to access information on the environment. The format will involve inputs from environmental lawyers and activists with expertise in this area. The three pillars of the Convention - information, participation and justice - will be discussed as well as a detailed case study. The workshop is free but registration is required by emailing roadshow@ien.ie.

Venue: Radisson Blu Hote, Golden Lane
Time: Dec 7th Sat, 10am 4pm
Registraton: The workshop is free but registration is required by emailing roadshow@ien.ie.

Download the Environmental Pillar's leaflet A Brief Guide to the Aarhus Convention
http://environmentalpillar.ie/files/2013/09/A-Brief-Gui...EG+72

Read the Environmental Pillar's press release here
http://environmentalpillar.ie/2013/11/26/environment-li...EG+72

Read this article on the Aarhus Convention from a Spanish/Irish perspective
http://ien.ie/2013/a-new-path-to-environmental-informat...EG+72

Eigrid pylons, wind turbines in the midlands, the proposed Hinkley nuclear plant in the UK, freedom of information - these are just some of the issues that have been prominent in the news lately. What connects them all is the question - were your rights to information, participation and justice respected?

The UNECE Aarhus Convention guarantees your right to easily obtain information on the environment or on human health issues that are affected by the environment. It guarantees your right to participate in decision-making on the environment, and access to justice at a cost which isn't prohibitive. It places an onus on public authorities to make relevant information readily available without it even being requested. Ireland ratified the Aarhus Convention last year.

Last week, the Environmental Pillar held seminars and workshops for lawyers, activists and government officials on the Aarhus Convention and its compliance mechanisms - the first time that such training had beenavailable in Ireland. The training was delivered by international experts Professor Jerzy Jendroska, a member of the Compliance Committee of the Aarhus Convention, and Andriy Andrusevych of the European ECO Forum, as well as Irish expert Dr Áine Ryall of UCD. They also met members of the judiciary. Photos of the events have been posted on this Facebook album.

Videos of presentations from a seminar will be available shortly - we'll keep you notified.
Prof. Jendroska discussed the Aarhus Convention in an interview on Morning Ireland - you can listen here.
http://podcast.rasset.ie/podcasts/audio/2013/1126/20131...EG+72

abriefguidetotheaarhusconventionleaflet.pdf 0.31 Mb