OSCE Mission Campaigns to Raise Environmental Awareness in Serbia
This is why the establishment of the first Aarhus Centre in Serbia in 2010 was a big step forward in terms of raising citizens’ awareness and advocating the significance of the Aarhus Convention, which was ratified by Serbia in May 2009 and grants public rights to citizens of Serbia with regard to access to information, public participation and access to justice in governmental decision-making processes on matters concerning the local, national and transboundary environment.
Today, there are four Aarhus centres in Serbia – Novi Sad, Subotica, Kragujevac and Niš – that promote the values of the Aarhus Convention through promotional sessions, roundtables, and other events. Their role is to bridge civil society groups with local self-governments on the matters related to the environment. The four regional centres joined forces on 10 July by signing a memorandum of co-operation and establishing the Aarhus Centre Network.
The OSCE supported this signing and also helped carry out a project called Aarhus Campaign 2013, which was implemented from June through August 2013 to address the low level of citizens’ participation in environmental decision-making and inadequate knowledge about environmental issues and the rights guaranteed by the Law on the Ratification of the Aarhus Convention among citizens at local level. The project included a series of outreach activities, public forums and roundtable discussions gathering representatives of local self-government, business, media, educational institutions, associations and citizens in 20 cities and municipalities across Serbia. The conclusion after the campaign was that the majority of people met during the outreach activities were not aware they had rights pertaining to the environment and that they could participate in the decision-making processes of environment-related endeavours.