FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY - Article 19

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ARTICLE 19GLOBAL CAMPAIGN FOR FREE EXPRESSIONLack of information means that, even if there were many opportunities for consultation,people would not be equipped with the necessary information to engage meaningfully in them or toprotest against decisions. Poorly consulted – and as a result poorly planned – projects, such as theabove-mentioned dam or the closure of mines which have led to the decay of housing, can meaneconomic ruin for the affected population. Environmental damage in the surrounding residential areascan also lead to a significant reduction in property values. In the difficult economic conditions stillfaced by a large section of the population, the value of a property can be of vital importance. 325Lack of information can lead workers to expose themselves to risks that could easily beavoided.Lack of consultation with the population and lack of environmental accountability negativelyaffects the long-term sustainability of industries and their competitiveness in a global market. In thelonger term, this also endangers jobs.Lack of transparency and fairness in public procurement distorts competition, deprivescompanies that are not politically well-connected of opportunities, and reduces the value for moneysociety gets from public contracts.The following examples illustrate how people’s lives have been directly affected by lack ofinformation on environmental issues.;,* !!When a train transporting phosphorus derailed near Lviv in July 2007 (see Section 2.4), the authoritiesdid not make a prompt announcement. This caused a delay in people taking precautions to protectthemselves against the toxic chemicals. People were then left without information as to the exact scaleof the accident and were confused by conflicting statements which caused general anxiety. Officialstatements later attempted to reduce the panic by saying that the situation was under control and that itwas safe to consume products from the oblast – yet independent specialists noted this was not the case.It is also worrying that the authorities reportedly forbade people from wearing protective masks.Ultimately, no conclusive, thorough information was given about the real causes of the accident.325 According to a 2003 estimate, 29% of Ukrainians lived below the poverty line, and the inflation rate in 2006was 11.6%, CIA, The World Factbook, ‘Ukraine’, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-worldfactbook/geos/up.htmlFor Internal Use Only. Is Post-Chornobyl Ukraine Ready for Access to Environmental Information?ARTICLE 19, London, 2007))
ARTICLE 19GLOBAL CAMPAIGN FOR FREE EXPRESSION;,& 65" 0 %.In Lviv, NGOs and journalists were extremely concerned about the import and management of toxicwaste from Eastern Europe, particularly from Hungary. 326 The government hid the fact that toxic wastewas disposed of in the Lviv oblast and as a result many people were exposed to health hazards whichthey knew nothing about. 327A substance called Premix, dumped in the town of Bakta between 2001 and 2004, exudespungent fumes that cause severe headaches among the local population. In 2006, a mother of two inBakta said: ‘We are always tired, with headaches and joint pain.’ A scientist at the Institute ofAgriculture, based in Bakta, said: ‘[in the oblast] vegetables are not growing any more, the leaves arefalling from the fruit trees already in the summer … we haven’t seen a mouse in the grain depots ofthe Institute for several years.’Two parents, whose house was only 200 metres from the dumped Premix, said that they couldno longer live there because of the fumes. They added that their children were frequently ill androutinely complained of headaches.;,3 %State secrecy contributed both to causing the explosion (to a lesser degree) and to worsening its effects(to a much greater extent – see Section 2.1). 328 Before the accident, the State’s efforts to keep nuclearissues secret meant that the reactor’s operators did not know that withdrawing control rods could leadto an explosion. They were simply told that this was ‘forbidden’. 329 Despite their frequency, nuclearaccidents in the USSR were kept secret. 330 This meant that the plant’s staff and the general public wereunaware of the hazards posed to society and were not able to respond to the accident adequately.Government attempts to hide the incident, usually referred to as the ‘Chornobyl cover-up’, ledto the mismanagement of the crisis. Immediately after the event, the Kremlin issued ‘top secret’instructions to classify all data on the accident, especially that relating to the health of the affectedpopulation. 331 As a result, rumours and misinformation multiplied. Even influential figures in theUkrainian government did not have information, as decisions were made exclusively in the Kremlin326 See Section 2.4. ARTICLE 19 interview with environmental journalists in Lviv, January 2007.327 Ibid.328 ‘The State and Chernobyl’, New Scientist, 11 November 1989.329 Ibid.330 In Chelyabinsk and Kyshtym (both in Russia), three nuclear accidents took place between 1949 and 1967,contaminating over half a million people.331 A Turevich, ‘Chernobyl – Byelorussian Tragedy’, Byelorussian Review, No.3, 1989,http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Senate/1447/Belrev1.htm.For Internal Use Only. Is Post-Chornobyl Ukraine Ready for Access to Environmental Information?ARTICLE 19, London, 2007)*
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