On November 12, 2015 in the conference –hall of hotel “Europe” in city Bishkek Aarhus Center in cooperation with Center OSCE in Bishkek with the support of Governmental Agency of environment protection and forestry under the Government of Kyrgyz Republic conducted the training on the subject “Basics of the Aarhus Convention and the methods of applying the principle of Access to justice in matters relating to the environment.” This training was organized toward the representatives of human rights organizations, NGOs, PU, lawyers in private practice, lawyers, teachers-lawyers and experts in the field of jurisprudence.

The aim of the training: learning to the basics of application of the provisions of the Aarhus Convention, taking into account the legal acts of the Kyrgyz Republic and increase the capacity of the participants of the training on the application of the principle of the Convention, “Access to Justice in questions relating to the environment.” In the course of the training was studied and discussed the need for the correct interpretation of laws and legal acts of the Kyrgyz Republic in the field of the environment.

This training has particular importance in matters of personnel preparation training, which will provide assistance to citizens and stakeholders in obtaining protection in case of violation of their environmental rights. This will allow achieving the skills of taking decision in accordance with the laws of the Kyrgyz Republic, ensuring the stability in society and to reducing the negative impact of the use of anti-constitutional norms.  This is the first training organized by Aarhus Center with the support of Center OSCE in Bishkek. The plan for future is to conduct similar training in the regions of the country for local NGO, lawyers, advocates and individuals, which protect the rights of citizens in the field of ecology and protection of environment.

The second step of conducting the training will be the education of representatives of governmental structures, law enforcement officers and prosecutors, regional administration, local administrations and local ayil okmotu, which directly face the appeal of citizens on violations of environmental rights. The basic rules for the application of legal acts of the Kyrgyz Republic to assist citizens in solving environmental problems will be presented. The third stage of training will cover the representatives of the judiciary, which will get the information of the basic concepts of environmental legislation with the principles and provisions of international conventions that have been ratified and approved for execution by the Kyrgyz Republic.

To conduct the trainings, Aarhus Center invited the qualified trainers from human rights organizations and independent lawyers-consultants, working in the field of ecological rights. To take participation in the training for judicial will be invited judges, employees of the Training Center of judges of the Supreme Court of the Kyrgyz Republic, with which Aarhus Centre signed a memorandum of cooperation for a variety of joint activities. This will give the participants of the training the ability to obtain the necessary skills from the qualified staff of the Training Centre and employees of the Supreme Court of the Kyrgyz Republic.