Implementing the Aarhus Convention

The United Nations Economic Convention for Europe Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention) is a peremptory international treaty that enshrines the procedural public rights to access environmental information, to make decisions regarding the environment, and to protect the right to a healthy environment. However, the Russian Federation is still not a party to this Convention. The analysis of the legislation of the Russian Federation in the context of its compliance with the Aarhus Convention is carried out to identify the reasons for not ratifying this agreement. The article aims to: 1) argue the need to ratify the Aarhus Convention by the Russian Federation; 2) develop an effective legal mechanism to ensure the implementation of its provisions. By applying the conceptual method, the provisions of the Aarhus Convention were analysed, its key requirements were studied, and the fundamental role of this treaty in the field of harmonizing relations ‘human-environment’ was determined. Through the combined application of conceptual and comparative methods, an analysis of the environmental legislation of the Russian Federation, the Republic of Kazakhstan, and the Republic of Belarus was carried out. Through the combined application of statistical and comparative methods, the effectiveness of environmental policy in the studied states in the context of the Aarhus Convention was identified and compared. As a result of the study, the need for the ratification of the Aarhus Convention by the Russian Federation was stated along with measures proposed for Convention implementation. In addition, attention was focused on the need for a comprehensive approach to the implementation of the provisions of this Convention. access to environmental information, access to justice, criminal liability, environmental legislation, healthy environment; international law