2015-05-27 CAPACITY BUILDING FOR PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN THE PROCESS OF ELABORATION OF DRAFT LEGAL ACTS RELATED TO ENVIRONMENT
CAPACITY BUILDING FOR PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN THE PROCESS OF ELABORATION OF DRAFT LEGAL ACTS RELATED TO ENVIRONMENT
“Environmental Public Advocacy Center” (EPAC) NGO implements the Programme “Capacity building for NGOs for effective participation in environmental decision-making through elaboaration of relevant policy tools and awareness-raising” within the framework of the Programme “Strengthening Environmental Governance by Building the Capacity of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)”, funded by the European Union, implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and delivered by the GEF Small Grants Programme (SGP).
The partners of the Pragramme implemented by EPAC NGO are the Ministry of Nature Protection of RA, the Ministry of Justice of RA and the Environmental Law Resource Center of the YSU Faculty of Law.
The Programme is aimed at enhancing the efficiency of public participation in the process of elaboration of draft legal acts related to environment through elaboration of relevant tools to raise public awareness, improve transparency in this sphere and support constructive dialogue with public authority. The main goal of the Programme is in line with fulfillment of obligations by Armenia deriving from the Aarhus Convention and intended to promote democratic principles and rule of law.
Within the 1st stage of the Programme the Guide to Public Participation in the Process of Elaboration of Draft Legal Acts related to Environment has been elaborated and published. Regional presentations of the Guide and respective trainings have been conducted in all marzes of Armenia (merely at the Aarhus Centers). The trainings were attended by the representatives of territorial administration and local self-governance bodies, civil society, educational institutions as well as local active youth (overall 150 participants). The participants have especially emphasized the importance of handling relevant legal knowledge and skills within the context of environmental education at different levels. At the same time, in the range of obstacles to effective public participation low level of regional organizations' involvement and «weak» feedback were mentioned.
The final presentation of the Guide took place on 21st May, 2015 at Environmental Law Research Center, YSU. At the event planned activities for subsequent stages as well as the key approaches set behind were presented. The introduction of the summarized results of qualitative and quantitative analysis of the evaluation survey conducted among the participants of regional trainings finalized the event.
The Yerevan presentation chaired Mr. Gevorg Danielyan - Head of the Chair of Constitutional Law of YSU. Among the participants were deputy deans of the Law Faculty Mr. Karen Gevorgyan and Mr. Armen Haykyants (responsible for international cooperation and science resepctively), representatives of public authority, international organizations, NGOs, HEIs and other stakeholders (31 participants).
The electronic version of the Guide is currently available at the web-page of Environmental Law Research Center of YSU (http://www.elrc.ysu.am/upload/246.pdf). After completion of the 2nd stage of the project the publication will be posted at www.ecolex.am as well.
The regional trainings and Yerevan presentation have been covered by the web-page of the Aarhus Centers as well as various mass media.
Within the 2nd and the 3rd stages the following results will be presented respectively.
1. Electronic platform - www.ecolex.am, which will serve as a unified platform for public participation in the process of elaboration of draft legal acts related to environment. In particular, all draft legal acts elaborated both by the National Assembly of RA and other authorities related to the nature protection and use of natural resources will be available at the web-page. Specific electronic tools will enable the users to leave their comments, suggestions and feedback to the drafts in online mode which will be accessible for all users.
2. Elaboration of the draft Governmental Decree of RA «On Approval of the Order of Public Participation in the Process of Elaboration of Draft Legal Acts related to Environment» and the package of accompanying documents. The mentioned draft and documents are planned to be developed in cooperation with the Ministry of Nature Protection and the Ministry of Justice of RA with involvement of civil society members.
The Programme is expected to result in tangible improvement of dialogue between decision-making authorities and civil society, development of relevant capacities for informed participation, atmosphere of mutual trust and responsibility of civil society for adherence to adopted legal acts.
Evaluation of training results - here
Today, the candle lighting in memory of the 1.5 million innocent victims of the Armenian Genocide was organized in the foyer of YSU main building.
25 higher educational institutions founded in Yekaterinburg the University League of the Collective Security Treaty Organization.
April 22 is The Earth Day, so the environmentalists once again raised the environmental issues.
The presentation of the book “If we remain silent, the stones would cry out” was held at YSU today. It is based on the memories of the Genocide survivor Hrachya Gevorgyan.
On April 6-12 YSU students participated in the International Youth Forum “Lomonosov 2014”.
