Eco Expertise Center Rejects Aarhus Center Report Claims

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — Uzbekistan's State Environmental Expertise Center has said that information published by several media outlets regarding the establishment of the Aarhus Center does not correspond to the facts of the discussion that took place and misrepresents its content.

The Center said the meeting was held solely in an open consultative format. No competitive selection procedures were conducted, and no head of the Aarhus Center was selected or appointed. It added that no candidate was approved, rejected or excluded from further consideration.

According to the Center, the meeting was intended to exchange views on possible approaches to establishing the future Aarhus Center. Participants discussed the professional experience of potential candidates, their expertise in environmental law, managerial skills and foreign language proficiency. All proposals made during the discussion were advisory in nature and did not result in any personnel or organizational decisions.

The State Environmental Expertise Center also rejected claims in the publication that the future head of the Aarhus Center had already been determined, that the future structure would be dependent on state authorities, or that representatives of the environmental community were deliberately excluded from the process of establishing the center.

The Center said such statements have no factual basis, are not supported by official documents and do not reflect the actual situation.

It said discussions on the organizational and legal model of the Aarhus Center are continuing. No final decisions have yet been made on its financing, the procedure for selecting its head, its governance structure or mechanisms to ensure its independence.

According to the Center, all of these issues are being considered through an open and inclusive dialogue involving representatives of government agencies, civil society institutions, the expert community and other interested parties.

The State Environmental Expertise Center said the published material represents a subjective interpretation of the views expressed by individual participants and does not accurately reflect the course, purpose or content of the meeting, which could mislead the public.

The Center called on media organizations, authors and users of information resources to rely exclusively on verified and accurate information, observe the principles of objectivity, professional journalistic ethics and responsible dissemination of information, and refrain from publishing unverified claims that could create a misleading public perception of the process of establishing the Aarhus Center.