EcoLur
On 29 May, a number of environmental organizations, experts and lawyers submitted the legal and professional grounds of ceasing Amulsar gold mining project to the Armenian Government and demanded to suspend the permits issued to the mining company and carry out new expert assessments based on newly emerged circumstances. In their letter the organizations and specialists stress out that in the process of receiving the soil management permit the company have made so many gross mistakes and dereliction of their duties that even of the company dares to sue the Armenian Government in the international court instances, the Armenian party will have all the arguments to won the court litigation/ arbitration. The international experts have assessed all the company documents in English and revealed all the mistakes in the company conclusions and announcements, as well as the absence of commitments in case of damage to incur in the mining process. Lydian is liable for its wrong statements and misinforming the Armenian Government and the society. All the demonstrations of the corruption risks existing in this project approval process are subject to an individual investigation. On the other hand, it should be taken into consideration that many local residents have compensation claims, which, in case they are considered to be admissible by the European Court for Human Rights, the government may face the commitment of paying huge amounts of compensation. Moreover, no transboundary impact assessment has been carried out in case of Amulsar mining project, which is a mandatory requirementof the Armenian legislation and the Espoo Convention, which means that in case of polluting the water flowing in the neighbouring states, the governments of these countries can file a claim on compensating these damages to the Republic of Armenia and create huge problems at the international level. What about the concern that the steps of the Armenian Government aimed at establishing rule and order in environmental matter can repel the foreign investors, yes, such actions of the government can repel private companies and corporations interested in the exploitation of Third World countries and their own superprofits, operating with double standards, hidden in the offshore zones and corrupted transnationally. Instead, enormous opportunities will be established for green, sustainable, legitimate, transparent and responsible international and local businesses. The citizens, specialists, NGOs and groups having joined this letter advise they are willing to contribute their knowledge, professional experience, ties and dedication to support the Armenian Government to solve the problems related to Amulsar and other environmental problems. This letter has been signed by:
Armenian Environmental Front Civic Initiative
Environmentalist and Lawyer Nazeli Vardanyan, Director of “Forests of Armenia” NGO
Sona Ayvazyan, CEO of “Transparency International Anti-Corruption Center” NGO
Arthur Grigoryan, President of “EcoRight” NGO
Karen Manvelyan, Director of WWF Armenia
Karine Danielyan, President of Association “For Sustainable Human Development”
Hakob Sanasaryan, President of Greens Union of Armenia
Silva Adamyan, President of “Union of Environmental Society” NGO
Inga Zarafyan, President of “EcoLur” Informational NGO
Armen Saghatelyan, Doctor of Geological-Mineralogical Sciences, Professor
May 30, 2018 at 17:50