This article examines the potential of the Aarhus Convention as a framework for enhancing transparency and upholding human rights in Uzbekistan. As Uzbekistan faces pressing environmental challenges, including pollution and climate-related risks, transparency in environmental governance is critical. Through policy analysis and legal review, this study assesses how Uzbekistan’s current legislation aligns with the Convention’s requirements on information access, with Kazakhstan’s experience serving as a comparative example. Findings reveal significant gaps in Uzbekistan’s transparency framework, particularly in timely access to data, public engagement, and legal accountability, underscoring the importance of adopting the Aarhus Convention. The study provides recommendations for Uzbekistan to bridge these gaps, aiming to strengthen transparency, enhance environmental data availability, and foster public trust in environmental decision-making.

Aarhus Convention, environmental governance, human rights

The World Justice Project, “WJP Rule of Law Index 2023,” 2023, https://worldjusticeproject.org/rule-of-law-index/country/2023/Uzbekistan.

Diana Mangalagiu, Nicolai Dronin, and Matthew Billot, “Implementing the Shared Environmental Information System (SEIS) and Environmental Policies in Central Asia,” Environmental Science & Policy 99 (September 2019): 31, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2019.05.017.

Erika Weinthal and Kate Watters, “Transnational Environmental Activism in Central Asia: The Coupling of Domestic Law and International Conventions,” Environmental Politics 19 (September 1, 2010): 794, https://doi.org/10.1080/09644016.2010.508311.

“Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters” (United Nations Treaty Collection, 1998), https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=IND&mtdsg_no=XXVII-13&chapter=27. https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=IND&mtdsg_no=XXVII-13&chapter=27

Tatiana R. Zaharchenko and Gretta Goldenman, “Accountability in Governance: The Challenge of Implementing the Aarhus Convention in Eastern Europe and Central Asia,” International Environmental Agreements 4, no. 3 (2004): 232, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10784-004-1027-0.

The Resolution of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, No. PQ-76 (LexUz 2019). The Resolution of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, No. PQ-171 (LexUz 2023).

Tatiana R. Zaharchenko, On the Way to Transparency: Comparative Study on Post-Soviet States and the Aarhus Convention, Kennan Institute Occasional Papers 303 (Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 2009), 25.

Zaharchenko and Goldenman, “Accountability in Governance,” 232.

Duncan Weaver, “The Aarhus Convention and Process Cosmopolitanism,” International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics 18, no. 2 (April 2018): 199–213, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10784-017-9369-6.

Zaharchenko and Goldenman, “Accountability in Governance,” 245.

Weaver, “The Aarhus Convention and Process Cosmopolitanism.”

Zaharchenko and Goldenman, “Accountability in Governance,” 232.

The Law on the Protection of Environment No 754-XII, art 4 (Uzbekistan 1992).

ibid art 53.

The Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan art 49 (Uzbekistan 2023).

“Model Regulation on the procedure for public environmental control approved by the Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of Uzbekistan,” Pub. L. No. No. 287, No. 287 (2015), para. 10, https://lex.uz/.

Mangalagiu, Dronin, and Billot, “Implementing the Shared Environmental Information System (SEIS) and Environmental Policies in Central Asia,” 33.

Weaver, “The Aarhus Convention and Process Cosmopolitanism.”

The Law on the Openness of the Activities of Government Authorities No LRU-369, art 4, 22 (Uzbekistan 2014).

“Ministry of Ecology, Environmental Protection and Climate Change of the Republic of Uzbekistan,” accessed March 30, 2024, https://www.uznature.uz/en#.

The Administrative Liability Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan No 2015-XII, art 215–217 (Uzbekistan 1994).

ibid art 175–177.

ibid art 229.

The Law on the Protection of Environment, art 12.

The Law on the Principles and Guarantees of Freedom of Information No 439-II, art 6 (Uzbekistan 2002).

The Law on the Protection of Environment, art 30.

Criminal Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan No 2012-XII, art 194 (Uzbekistan 1994).

The Administrative Delinquency Code of Kazakhstan No 235-V LRK, art 327–1 (Kazakhstan 2014).

ibid art 456–1, 504.

Penal Code of Kazakhstan No 226-V LRK, art 159, 305 (Kazakhstan 2014).

The Environmental Code of Kazakhstan, art 23.

“National Report Published,” Sreda.Uz, 2013, https://sreda.uz/rubriki/voda/izdan-nacionalnyj-doklad/.

Zaharchenko and Goldenman, “Accountability in Governance,” 234.

Eric W. Sievers, The Post-Soviet Decline of Central Asia, 1st ed. (Routledge, 2003), 248, https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315810713.

Marc Elie, “Toward a Green and Extractivist Future? The Soviet and Post-Soviet Environmental Legacy, Fossil Economy and Ecological Activism in a Changing Kazakhstan,” in Ecological Concerns in Transition (Centre for Baltic and East European Studies (CBEES), Södertörn University, 2023), 159, http://sh.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1746330/FULLTEXT01.pdf.

Mangalagiu, Dronin, and Billot, “Implementing the Shared Environmental Information System (SEIS) and Environmental Policies in Central Asia,” 35.

Zaharchenko and Goldenman, “Accountability in Governance,” 236.

Weaver, “The Aarhus Convention and Process Cosmopolitanism.”

Bobir Turdiev, “Legal mechanisms for enhancing environmental responsibility of corporate sector,” Lawyer Herald 4, no. 3 (2023): 14–22, https://doi.org/10.26739/2181-9416-2023-4-2.