Marine Conservation Society Press Release
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MCS Wins ‘David & Goliath’ Legal Battle At United Nations.
27th August 2010UK Government judged to be failing British people on access to environmental justice.
The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) today announces, in a joint action with environmental lawyers ClientEarth, that it has won a ‘David & Goliath’ legal battle against the UK Government at the United Nations (UN). In a landmark ruling, the UN has judged the UK Government to have failed in its commitments to the Aarhus Convention - an international agreement – thereby denying ordinary British citizens fair access to the courts in cases about the environment.
MCS and ClientEarth confronted the UK Government at the United Nations in Geneva in September 2009 after MCS failed to hold Government regulators and the Port of Tyne Authority accountable for dumping 66,000 tonnes of highly toxic dredge material into the sea near Sunderland. Because the Government had failed to properly implement the UN’s Aarhus Convention, MCS could not challenge this dumping operation in court without risking financial ruin. The case brought before the UN alleged this situation to be a breach of the Aarhus Convention in the UK.
Thomas Bell, MCS’ Campaigns Strategist, said: ‘The current legal system in England and Wales makes it almost impossible for individuals or small organisations like ours to take environment cases to court without inviting financial ruin if we lose. In effect, justice on environmental matters is only available if you’re rich. We decided to challenge this legal situation by taking the twin ‘Goliaths’ of our Government and the European Union to the United Nations and standing up for the rights that ordinary people have under the UN’s Aarhus Convention. Today, ‘David’, that is to say ordinary British citizens, won.”
The decision by UN’s Aarhus Committee should herald a fundamental change to the legal system in England and Wales. Individuals and green organisations will now be able to mount environmental court cases without fear of the financial cost, and the Government will have to introduce a clear, transparent and consistent framework to implement the Aarhus Convention, allowing rich and poor alike proper access to justice in the environment.
ENDS
Press Contact:
For more information, please contact:
Melissa Moore, MCS Senior Policy Officer – 07970 393158 or melissa.moore@mcsuk.org
Notes to Editors
The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) is the UK charity dedicated to the protection of our seas, shores and wildlife. MCS campaigns for clean seas and beaches, sustainable fisheries, protection of marine life and their habitats, and the sensitive use of our marine resources for future generations. Through education, community involvement and collaboration, MCS raises awareness of the many threats that face our seas and promotes individual, industry and government action to protect the marine environment. MCS provides information and guidance on many aspects of marine conservation and produces the annual Good Beach Guide (www.goodbeachguide.co.uk), the Good Fish Guide and www.fishonline.org on sustainable seafood, as well as promoting public participation in volunteer projects and surveys such as Beachwatch, Adopt-a-Beach and Basking Shark Watch.
ClientEarth (www.clientearth.org) is a is a non-profit environmental law organisation based in London, Brussels and Warsaw, working at the interface of law, science and policy. Using the power of the law, they develop legal strategies and tools to address major environmental issues. As legal experts working in the public interest, they act to strengthen the work of our partners – both governments and NGOs. Their work covers climate change and energy system transformation, protection of oceans, biodiversity and tropical forests. Ninety per cent of Europe’s environmental laws are made in Brussels where multi-national firms have widespread influence through lobbyists and lawyers. ClientEarth was set up to redress the balance and is providing similar legal support for environmental initiatives and campaigns.
What is the Aarhus Convention? The Aarhus Convention is the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters. It was adopted on 25 June 1998 in the Danish city of Aarhus at the Fourth Ministerial Conference as part of the "Environment for Europe" process. It entered into force on 30 October 2001.
The Aarhus Convention grants the public rights and imposes on signatory governments and public authorities obligations regarding access to information, public participation in environmental decisions and access to justice. It links government accountability and environmental protection and focuses on interactions between the public and state authorities. Parties to the Convention are required to make the necessary provisions so that public authorities (at national, regional or local level) give effect to these rights. The European Commission became party to the Convention in May 2005.
In 2003, two European Directives concerning the first and second "pillars" of the Aarhus Convention were adopted - the Public Access to Environmental Information Directive (2003/4/EC) and the Public Participation Directive (2003/35/EC). These were transposed into the national law of EU Member States by June 2005.
In 2007, the European Parliament and Council adopted regulations introducing to Community institutions and bodies further provisions of the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters.
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