OSCE Centre helps improve legislation on Aarhus Convention implementation in Kazakhstan

The OSCE Centre in Astana supported the discussion of amendments to legislative acts on access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters under the Aarhus Convention.

The meeting took place on 13 November 2013 in Astana and was co-organized by the Environment and Water Resources Ministry, the OSCE Centre and the National Aarhus Centre.

More than 50 experts from government, civil society and academia,, members of Parliament and the Supreme Court, and representatives of the Aarhus Centres from across the country discussed the draft law, which is to amend existing legislation to ensure full compliance with the provisions of the Aarhus Convention. They developed recommendations on how to advance the legal and institutional framework in order to strengthen civic engagement in environmental governance.

Kazakhstan ratified the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention) in 2001, and is now preparing its national compliance report.