The Armenian government has violated the Aarhus Convention, stated the conclusion of the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee of the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).

According to the conclusion of the committee, the government had violated the convention by not taking into consideration the claim of environmental NGO Ecodar, challenging the administrative decision on exploitation of Teghut Mine in Armenia, the Teghut Protection Initiative reported.

“Thus, the Aarhus Committee reaffirmed the viewpoint of Teghut Protection Civic Initiative, as well as the position of the Constitutional Court of Armenia that the NGOs involved in environmental issue have the right to go to court, challenging the decision, action or inaction of administrative bodies related to environment,” the initiative said in a statement.

At the same time, the Committee suggested that the Armenian government should make amendments to the Law on NGOs and the Code of Administrative Procedure in regard to the right to challenge the decisions of administrative bodies in the court.

Given that the meeting of member states of the Aarhus Convention will be held in June-July 2014, the Committee by that time will support the government on implementation of their proposals