Conference highlights concerns over access to justice27 October 2011
Lawyers, academics and communities have met to discuss the importance of environmental access rights.
On 10 October 2011 Friends of the Earth and the Coalition on Access to Justice (CAJE) held an event in London to discuss the importance of environmental justice.
Throughout the day guest speakers debated people's rights to:
- access environmental information
- participate in decision-making
- challenge environmental decisions.
Discussion focussed on the high costs that communities risk paying if they lose a legal challenge.
This acts as a barrier to accessing justice and is in breach of the International Aarhus Convention.
Procedures for securing access to justice should be fair, equitable, timely and not prohibitively expensive.
Aarhus Convention
Friends of the Earth and CAJE are pushing for a change in the UK court rules to address this.
As a result, the UK Government is carrying out a consultation looking into the cost rules.
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© Niall Watson
