On December 2, 2022, a round table was held in the conference hall of the Plaza Hotel Bishkek on the topic “Environmental justice is a priority for the development of the Kyrgyz Republic. Analysis of court cases in the field of environmental protection”. It was organized by the Aarhus Center in Bishkek with the support of the OSCE Program Office in Bishkek and in cooperation with the NGO “Association of Judges of Kyrgyzstan”. The Higher School of Justice under the Supreme Court of the Kyrgyz Republic also took part in the preparation of this event. The round table was attended by Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Court of the Kyrgyz Republic Davletov A., Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Ministry of Natural Resources, Ecology and Technical Supervision of the Kyrgyz Republic Mametov M., Deputy of the Jogorku Kenesh of the Kyrgyz Republic Bekeshev D., Deputy Director of the Higher School of Justice of the Kyrgyz Republic Alymbekov G., Head of the Department of Economics and Ecology of the OSCE Program Office in Bishkek Nakashidze E., judges of the Supreme, regional, city and district courts of the Kyrgyz Republic, representatives of NGOs and independent experts.

The main task of the round table was to discuss the existing organizational and legal issues when requests were received from citizens to protect their environmental rights from existing offenses. To this end, the experts of the NGO “Association of Judges of Kyrgyzstan” and consultants of the Aarhus Center in Bishkek prepared a report on the topic “The policy of environmental justice in the system of nature management and environmental protection – a priority for the development of the Kyrgyz Republic”, which was aimed at the need to revise the attitude of the judiciary when considering materials, taking into account knowledge in the field of environmental jurisprudence and international conventions. During the hearing of the report, the participants of the event asked several questions they had and received full, comprehensive answers.

In the afternoon of the round table, a presentation “Analysis of court cases in the field of environmental protection for the period from 2017 to 2022” was presented, in which analytical material prepared by the experts of the Aarhus Center in Bishkek was presented. consideration. This analysis attracted particular attention from both the judiciary and representatives of public organizations. A large number of questions were asked, which were discussed and recommendations were made.

It should be especially noted that during the round table, the judges of Kyrgyzstan made a proposal on the need to hold a Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Kyrgyz Republic to adopt new amendments during the consideration of judicial cases, taking into account the current time, since the last time changes were made at the last Plenum in 1992. Also, the participants voiced a request to develop a manual as a guide on the application of legislative acts in the field of environmental protection to help judicial employees.