NGOs Demanding to Withdraw Draft Bill on Amending and Supplementing RA Mining Code and Organize Public Discussions

NGOs Demanding to Withdraw Draft Bill on Amending and Supplementing RA Mining Code and Organize Public Discussions

The non-governmental organizations are not satisfied with the answer given by RA Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration Hovhannes Harutyunyan in response to the announcement of the non-governmental organizations on the withdrawal of RA draft law "On Making Amendments to RA Subsoil Code" from RA National Assembly.

On April 1, 2022, the Media Center initiated a discussion on "Amending Law on Subsoil in Favor of Mining Companies" to clarify the problematic points of the draft laws. Inga Zarafyan, President of EcoLur Informational NGO, and Oleg Dulgaryan, President of Center for Community Consolidation and Support NGO, took part in these discussions.

The invitation sent to RA Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure was rejected. The speakers of the discussion described such a step of the governmental body as another proof of avoiding dialogue.

Referring to the draft law, Oleg Dulgaryan mentioned the dangerous approaches in it. "It is an anti-popular draft law, which should definitely be rejected. The draft law seems to have been specially written for the development of Amulsar, as it has a retroactive effect of four years. It deprives the community resident of the sense to struggle. The main form of citizens' struggle is peaceful protest demonstrations; to make them meaningless is not only adverse from the viewpoint of the given law, but also that of democratic processes. It may give birth to other legislative initiatives with such restrictions.

Inga Zarafyan responded to the observation of the discussion moderator that the minister denied the version of adopting a draft law for one company, in this case this company is "Lydian Armenia" CJSC. "Not only are there special conditions for Lydian in this project, there are several precedents. The government has passed a resolution violating the Law on Flora, the Subsoil Code and the Convention on Biological Diversity. As it is known, a red-listed species was found in Amulsar, whereas Article 26 of Subsoil Code did not allow mining in such an area. Meanwhile, the government reached a decision that bypassed that ban. ․․․․ This draft law is just a big lobby by mining companies," she said.

The fact that the bill has a retroactive effect proves the fact that it has been developed for the benefit of the mining companies. "We know that legislative amendments have no retroactive effect. This is the first project when we see that this requirement for a specific business can have a retroactive effect.

The other point concerns the continuous nature of EIA conclusion. The EIA conclusion is the final permit in the whole seriesof permits. Many times companies, having been issued a positive conclusion, do not start operations. If they do not start their activities for a year, that conclusion loses its validity, the company has to start the whole process again. This provision is bypassed in this draft law. Our environment is changing rapidly. It is clear that it needs to be re-evaluated. This is lobbying by companies, it is convenient only for them. This is just disastrous for all our natural resources," Inga Zaragyan mentioned.

According to Oleg Dulgaryan, the letter in no way addresses the issues raised by civil society. "Not only are the concerns raised by the civil service not considered, but the respondents are convinced that they are right. At least there should have been an invitation to organize discussions, to a dialogue, which was not done. We must be very alert about such issues in order for the Republic of Armenia, as a democratic country, to continue its normal development," he said.

Inga Zarafyan also mentioned that the format of sending a response letter also speaks about the fact that the ministry avoids entering into a dialogue with the civil society. "Otherwise, they would not respond with a letter, but would offer a meeting. We offer a constructive dialogue We demand from Deputy Minister Hovhannes Harutyunyan to withdraw this draft law, to organize a public discussion with the civil society on the draft and other issues," she emphasized.

The letter also mentions the possibility of expressing public opinion on the joint website for publishing draft legal acts  - www.e-draft.am electronic platform. According to the speakers, the online domain is not the best way to collect public opinion.

Oleg Dulgaryan, "The letter says a public discussion was organized: it was posted on www.e-draft.am. Dear colleaguespublishing on www.e-draft.am is not a public discussion. It's just one of the many tools used to engage the public.

Inga Zarafyan, www.e-draft.am website is constantly referenced, as if it is a public discussion. I want to emphasize that we cannot restrict the rights of our society to just one website. Normal civilized democratic processes are being replaced by a tool that is very convenient for the Government, state bodies, but there is a conflict of interests between the society and state bodies. This replacement has very dangerous consequences. If we can replace everything with www.e-draft.am - a network discussion, the dialogue between the Government and the civil society will simply fail.

Speaking about the forthcoming actions, Oleg Dulgaryan mentioned, "We are going to draw the attention of international organizations to this draft law by requesting meetings with them."

Photo Credit: Media Center



April 02, 2022 at 20:03