Press release
Ireland to lead on UN Rapid Response Mechanism to safeguard environmental defenders
From Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications
Published on
Last updated on
Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan TD, has today announced that Ireland, along with Austria, will lead in delivering a UN Rapid Response Mechanism to safeguard environmental defenders.
Ireland will provide 50% of the funding (circa $100,000 US per year) for the next four years. This funding will support the establishment and operation of the new Rapid Response Mechanism, under the auspices of the UNECE (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe). The Minister’s announcement coincided with a Meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention, in Geneva.
Minister Ryan said:
"Ireland’s 50% funding and 100% support of the Rapid Response Mechanism is an expression of solidarity with environmental defenders across Europe and neighbouring regions. In addition to giving a voice to environmental defenders in our own region, we hope that it may serve as a model of best practice in other regions as well."
The Rapid Response Mechanism will operate under the authority of a pro bono UN Special Rapporteur and will complement the existing non-compliance mechanism of the Aarhus Convention. It will react in a timely way, in cases where parties to the convention fail to comply with their obligations. It will ensure that people exercising their rights, in conformity with the provisions of the convention, are not penalised, persecuted or harassed in any way.
Minister Ryan added:
"The Rapid Response Mechanism will shine a light of justice into dark corners. It will call upon the authorities of the party to uphold the rule of law. It will be a voice for the women and men who are often the last line of defence for our land, air, forests, waters and wetlands. These constitute our life-support system on Earth. We will be held accountable by our citizens. It will force us all to live up to the commitments which we all made, when we signed the convention."
Minister Ryan has also expressed his support for the Geneva Declaration on Environmental Democracy for Sustainable, Inclusive and Resilient Development. He explained:
"As we face into the next decade of challenges in delivering on our Sustainable Developmental Goals, allowing our citizens to actively participate in spatial planning and large-scale infrastructure development processes is more important now than ever before. It is timely for the Geneva Declaration to re-state the human rights and environmental principles of the Aarhus Convention."
ENDS
The Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters was adopted in 1998 in the Danish city of Aarhus, under the auspices of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). The Aarhus Convention entered into force in 2001 and now has 47 Parties, including the EU and all of its Member States. Ireland is also a Party to the Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers, which has 38 Parties. The EU became a Party to the Aarhus Convention in 2005. Ireland ratified the Convention on 20th June 2012. Ireland has fully transposed the Convention into national law and became subject to the Convention’s compliance mechanism, the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee (ACCC), 18 months after ratification.
The Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC) has a key oversight role for policy and legislation to effectively implement the Aarhus Convention and the PRTR Protocol in Ireland.
The Aarhus Convention is based on three principles: Access to Information; Public Participation in Decision-making; and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters. It lays down a set of rules to promote the involvement of citizens in environmental matters and to support environmental justice rights.
The Meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention and the PRTR Protocol is held every 4 years. In addition to the official representatives of the Parties to the Convention, the delegates at the MOP include representatives of ENGOs and interested individuals. This year they are being held back to back from Monday 18th October to Friday 22nd October. Ireland was represented by DECC officials (attending remotely). A representative of Ireland’s Permanent Representation in Geneva attended certain sessions in person.
The Geneva Declaration restates and reiterates the principles of the Aarhus Convention in the present day context.
Paragraph 27 of the Geneva Declaration declares the basis of the Rapid Response Mechanism and welcomes the mandate given by the MOP to it.