FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY - Article 19

ARTICLE 19GLOBAL CAMPAIGN FOR FREE EXPRESSION• Public hearings should be publicised widely and in advance to give all interested parties theopportunity to attend – subject only to space limitations.• Public hearings should be improved: more time should be allocated to discussions,presentations from State representatives should have more detail, and the public shouldreceive comprehensive answers to their questions.• The public should be given sufficient time to feed into the process of State EIAs.0 .• Improved systems should be set up to ensure that people are promptly and fully informed incase of environmental emergencies; the practice of ‘downplaying’ danger and issuingconflicting information should be rooted out, as this causes further stress for the public andmay have an adverse effect on people’s health.• Following accidents, thorough and impartial investigations should be carried out and theresults made public.% + !6" %%6• Financial resources for providing public access to information (including for training) shouldbe allocated to public bodies.• More financial resources should be injected into programmes to generate information in thepublic interest, for example into mechanisms measuring environmental impact, radiationcontamination or water quality.• Public bodies’ websites should be improved so that they are fully operational, comprehensiveand up-to-date.• Improved systems should be set up to reach those who have no access to the Internet,particularly the rural population.• Training for public officials should be provided (in compliance with Article 7 of the Law onEnvironmental Protection) to ensure their full familiarity with Ukraine’s provisions onfreedom of environmental information and Ukraine’s responsibility under international law(particularly the Aarhus Convention), as well as the role and significance of publicparticipation.• Internal systems for information exchange within the MEP, and between the MEP and itsState Departments should be improved.For Internal Use Only. Is Post-Chornobyl Ukraine Ready for Access to Environmental Information?ARTICLE 19, London, 2007+,,