Air Pollution: Ombudsperson Ziberi Calls for Changes to Current Legislation

From 1 January to October inclusive, 40 petitions concerning the environment have been sent to the Office of Ombudsperson, half of which concern air quality, while the other 50% are related to other aspects of endangered environment.

Ombudsperson Naser Ziberi, who’s hosting a two-day conference headlined “Ombudspersons and National Institutions for Human Rights and Environment”, organised in the frames of the project to increase the Ombudsperson’s role in environmental justice, expressed on Wednesday concern over the environmental situation. According to him, however, the Supreme Court’s principled position is an encouragement that things will improve.

Also, Ombudsperson Ziberi called for the adoption of a new law on the environment because the current one, adopted in 2006 and changed 24 times since, he believes, is no longer the proper framework to deal with the matter.

UNDP Resident Representative Armen Grigoryan stated that environmental protection was not only an environmental matter, but also justice and a fundamental human right, which was why ombudspersons and institutions for protection of human rights played an increasingly greater role to promote environmental justice.