A/HRC/28/61 guidelines that assist States to implement their commitments to Principle 10.4 UNEP is preparing a comprehensive guide for the implementation of the Bali Guidelines, which will be published in 2015. 28. Another good practice is the implementation of these procedural obligations through regional agreements. In 1998, the States members of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe adopted the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters, which states that: to contribute to the protection of the right of every person of present and future generations to live in an environment adequate to his or her health and well-being, each Party shall guarantee the rights of access to information, public participation in decision-making, and access to justice in environmental matters in accordance with provisions of this Convention (art. 1). The Convention sets out detailed requirements for the implementation of each of these access rights. As of January 2015, the Convention has 47 Parties, which include virtually all of the States in Europe as well as a number of States in Central Asia. 29. To facilitate the implementation of the Convention, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe maintains a network of Aarhus Centres, including in Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Montenegro, Serbia and Tajikistan. The Centres disseminate environmental information, carry out educational and training projects, and provide venues where the public can discuss environmental concerns. For example, the Khujand Aarhus Centre in northern Tajikistan conducted a campaign in the town of Taboshar to raise its residents’ awareness of the health risks associated with a nearby abandoned uranium mine. 30. Nineteen States in Latin America and the Caribbean, with the assistance of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, decided in November 2014 to begin negotiation of a new regional agreement that would implement the access rights set out in Principle 10, with a view to completing the negotiation by December 2016. Together with the Aarhus Convention, this initiative will provide invaluable models to other regions considering similar agreements. 31. Civil society organizations have also engaged in exemplary practices designed to facilitate the exercise of procedural rights to information, participation and remedy. One of the most notable is The Access Initiative (TAI), a global network of more than 150 civil society organizations that work together to promote procedural rights. TAI has developed a toolkit that helps civil society to assess environmental governance in their countries and to identify opportunities to make positive changes. Together with the World Resources Institute, TAI is also developing an Environmental Democracy Index, which will measure country-specific realization of the three procedural rights according to indicators based on the Bali Guidelines. The Index should be available in 2015. B. Obligation to make environmental information public 32. Human rights bodies have made clear that to protect human rights from environmental harm, States should provide access to environmental information (A/HRC/25/53, para. 31). Many States have adopted laws providing for such access. For example, Chile has enacted a law that includes a detailed statement of the right of everyone 4 UNEP Governing Council Dec. SS.XI/5 (26 February 2010). 7

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