01 Aarhus center Zenica and BiH-CZ Cooperation.pdf

Supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic

Aarhus center Zenica cooperation of Bosnia and Czech Republic presented by Dr.sc. Samir Lemeš president of NGO "Eko forum" Zenica Presentation of the Alternative Report on the Implementation of the Aarhus Convention in BiH Sarajevo, 16.9.2015

Aarhus center Zenica cooperation of Bosnia and Czech Republic    

Aarhus centers in Bosnia and Herzegovina How Eko forum and Arnika met?

2014: The right to a healthy environment 2015: Legal protection of pollution victims

Aarhus centers in Bosnia and Herzegovina      

Aarhus Convention was ratified by Bosnia and Herzegovina on 15.9.2008.

Several international projects supported its implementation in national legislation.

An official network of three Aarhus centers was created on 11.4.2013, with support of OSCE mission in BiH. Aarhus center Sarajevo Center for Environment Banja Luka Center for Energy and Ecology Tuzla

Aarhus centers in Bosnia and Herzegovina 

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Eko forum Zenica was formed in December 2008, as a reaction of concerned citizens for pollution induced by restarted integral metallurgical production in Zenica.

Eko forum implemented Aarhus Convention by heart, unaware of Convention's existence.

We asked for access to information, disseminated information we got, participated in decision making and prepared for lawsuits from the very beginning.

International projects supported by OSCE were already finished when we found out that we actually perform as an Aarhus center.

How Eko forum and Arnika met? 

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South‐East European Federation of Cities and Regions for the Environment SEEFED organized an international conference "Green RoundTable 2012" in May 2012.

We tried to establish contacts with international organizations, and OSCE representative from Belgrade, Ms. Eva Kubickova gave us the e‐mail address of Czech NGO Arnika.

In March 2013, Arnika proposed cooperation through Transition program of the Czech Government.

2014: The right to a healthy environment 

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Our first common project was "The right to a healthy environment: Aarhus Centre in Zenica‐Doboj Canton, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the transfer of experience from the Czech Republic", financially supported by "Transition Promotion Program" of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic.

We organized a number of events, conferences, workshops, printed a newsletter, recorded a lot of video materials for the documentary movie, prepared a material for Aarhus Convention Shadow Report, and exchanged our experiences.

2014: The right to a healthy environment

2014: The right to a healthy environment

2014: The right to a healthy environment

2014: The right to a healthy environment

2014: The right to a healthy environment

2014: The right to a healthy environment

2015: Legal protection of pollution victims 

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After successful initial project, we decided to continue our cooperation through another project, again supported by Transition Program.

Logical follow‐up of the establishment of Aarhus center was implementation of third pillar of the Convention, and we started to prepare a lawsuits against responsible for the pollution.

We again organized meetings and workshops, but this time with different topics, trying to involve legal experts.

With support from Arnika, we collected a lot of evidences and documentation for the lawsuits.

2015: Legal protection of pollution victims

2015: Legal protection of pollution victims  

This year was very turbulent in Zenica.

The air pollution continued to increase, along with increase in production in the steelworks (most probably due to changes in USD/EUR exchange rate).

2015: Legal protection of pollution victims 

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Environmental permits expired, the renewal procedure was almost hidden from the public, and local population started to complain and to protest.

We provided support to citizens in terms of disseminating information and legal assistance.

2015: Legal protection of pollution victims 

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The largest result of this project are criminal charges against responsibles for extreme pollution of air, soil and water in Zenica.

The criminal charges were submitted to prosecutor's office on the ocassion of the seventh anniversary of Aarhus Convention ratification by Bosnia and Herzegovina Thus we fulfilled demands made by citizens in 2014.

2015: Legal protection of pollution victims   

Another major result, we expect to achieve, are the new environmental permits for ArcelorMittal.

We consulted the Czech Environmental Agency CENIA to verify whether new permits are in compliance with BATs. We struggled to achieve our right to participate in decision making, in order to have better legal instruments