Background

Meetings

Platform for sharing information, experiences and good practices (jurisprudence)

Capacity Building and Workshops

Past activities (2000-2008)

Task Force on Access to Justice

The 4th meeting of the Task Force took place on 7-8 February 2011, Geneva (Switzerland).

Background 

The Task Force on Access to Justice:

(a) provides a platform for sharing of information, experiences and good practices related to access to justice (through e.g. collection and dissemination of relevant practices and establishment of portal for the relevant jurisprudence);

(b) plans and implements strategic and catalytic capacity-building activities and information exchange, in particular for senior members of the judiciary at the subregional level;

(c) Considers means of facilitating training of trainers on access to justice in environmental matters;

(d) Develops training materials on implementation of article 9 of the Convention that are adaptable to national priorities and the needs of specific groups of legal professionals;

(e) Examines the way the issue of remedies is handled in a selection of representative countries;

(f) Continues the exchange of information and analytical work on criteria for standing;

(g) Continues the exchange of information on practices in establishment of assistance mechanisms to remove or reduce financial barriers;

(h) Considers practical arrangements for increasing support for public interest lawyers and strengthening the capacities of non-governmental organizations;

(i) Identifies good practice with respect to ensuring that sufficient scientific and technical expertise is available to review bodies dealing with environmental cases;

(j) Continues exploring the potential use of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms as a means to further the objectives of the Convention;

(k) Encourages the involvement of representatives of ministries of justice, the judiciary, other legal professionals, including public interest lawyers and non-governmental organizations specializing in litigation and legal advice on environmental matters, in its activities;

(l) Carries out such other tasks related to access to justice as the Working Group of the Parties may assign to the Task Force;

(m) Presents the results of its work for consideration and appropriate action by the Working Group of the Parties.

The Task Force was established pursue to the following decisions of the Meeting of the Parties.

The first meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention (Lucca, Italy 21-23 October 2002) decided to establish a Task Force on Access to Justice to support the implementation of the third pillar of the Convention by inter alia, examining good practices, sharing experience with implementation of particular paragraphs of article 9 of the Convention and assessing the impact of certain barriers in access to justice such as costs and delays.

At their second meeting (Almaty, Kazakhstan, 25-27 May 2005) the Parties adopted decision II/2 on promoting effective access to justice (ENG, FRE, RUS) and established a Task Force to carry out further work with practical focus in relation to the elements of that decision. More detailed information on the mandate and activities of the Task Force in the period of 2005-2008 can be found here.

The mandate of the Task Force was extended in time by the Parties through decision III/3 on promoting effective access to justice ( ENG, FRE, RUS), adopted at their third meeting (Riga, Latvia, 11-13 June 2008).

Meetings 

The fourth meeting of the Task Force on Access to Justice took place from 7 to 8 February 2011, in Salle V at the Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland, back to back with the thirteenth session of the Working Group of the Parties (9-11 February 2011).

The Task Force discussed a wide range of issues related to the access to justice, including capacity-building efforts, jurisprudence database and analytical studies on costs and remedies as barriers to access to justice. Furthermore, the Task Force discussed possible work in this area after the fourth session of the Meeting of the Parties, scheduled to take place on 29 June - 1 July 2011 in Chisinau, on the basis of a draft decision on promoting effective access to justice. The outcome of the meeting of the Task Force was presented by its Chair to the thirteenth session of the Working Group of the Parties.

Analytical studies

At its third meeting (Geneva, 14-15 October 2009) the Task Force on Access to Justice decided to carry out analytical studies on the following issues:

(a) costs and financial arrangements, including litigation costs, legal aid and support for public interest lawyers; and

(b) remedies, including injunctive relief and the issue of timing.

The objective of the studies is to carry out research and identify any impediments on access to justice in relation to the provisions of the Aarhus Convention , especially on costs and remedies (see article 9, paragraph 4 of the Aarhus Convention), and provide recommendations on how such impediments may be overcome.

The study of the legislation and practice in the countries that are not located in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia (EECCA) is broadly based on secondary sources available in the English language; the study of the legislation and practice in countries in EECCA examines primary and secondary sources.

The advance draft of the study for the non-EECCA countries was discussed by the Task Force at its fourth meeting (7-8 February 2011). Comments were also received by participants in writing. The final version of the study can be accessed here. At that meeting, experts also discussed a memo on costs prepared by the Chair of the Task Force. The final version of the memo is available here.

To carry out the study on the EECCA countries, a questionnaire (in Russian and in English) has been developed on the subject. The answers to the questionnaire on access to justice in environmental matters, particularly in respect of costs and available remedies, provided by experts from nine countries may be found in the following table:

Disclaimer: Presence of the completed questionnaires on access to justice in environmental matters in EECCA countries, particularly in respect of costs and available remedies, on this web site does not imply endorsement of their content by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe or by the respective Governments.

The draft of the study on "Access to justice in environmental matters in Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia: available remedies, timeliness and costs" is now available here (RUS). Also, the summary and conclusions in the English language are available here.

At its fourth meeting (Geneva, 7-8 February 2011) the Task Force on Access to Justice decided to build on the existing material on costs and remedies and to develop a set of good practices and analyses on the following priority issues: the loser pays principle; legal aid and other methods of funding for public interest lawyers and NGOs; and criteria for injunctions. The related study was finalized in June 2011. The final version of the study is available here.

Previous Meetings

The first meeting of the Task Force was held on 16-17 February 2006 and the second meeting on 10-12 September 2007 in Geneva. Information about the two meetings is available here.

The 3rd meeting of the Task Force took place on 14-15 October 2009 in Geneva (Switzerland).

Capacity Building and Workshops 

Mandate

Having in mind the practical focus of its mandate, the Task Force at its first meeting, proposed that capacity-building activities initially be aimed at supporting the judiciary, if possible at all levels, particularly in countries with economies in transition. It agreed on certain criteria for the workshop design and initiated a consultation process on the concept for capacity-building activities which was carried out between July and November 2007.

The first subregional workshop for senior members of the judiciary took place on 4-5 June 2007 in the capital of Ukraine, Kiev. The workshop brought together senior judges from the six countries of the subregion, as well as several members of the EU Forum of Judges for the Environment (EUFJE) and international environmental law experts. Further information about the workshop is available here.

Workshop for high-level judiciary for the South-East European Region - Tirana, Albania, 17-18 November 2008 

The second subregional workshop for senior members of the judiciary took place on 17-18 November 2008 in the capital of Albania, Tirana. The workshop brought together senior judges from the subregion, as well as several senior judges from the EU countries and international environmental law experts. It followed the general model of the earlier Kiev workshop.

The workshop, organized in cooperation with Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), was financially supported by contributions from the Government of France, the OSCE fund and the trust fund of the Aarhus Convention.

In the table above, links to documents appear using the following abbreviations and icons:

File formats: = PDF file; = MS Word DOC file; = MS PowerPoint PPT file;
Languages: ENG – English; FRE – French; RUS – Russian
Documents available for downloading are indicated in blue typeface: ENG FRE RUS.