The Government should allow public inspection of the report on the Ohrid Region to UNESCO
Civil society organizations and higher educational institutions from the Advocacy and Lobbying Alliance “Clear it Up” demand the involvement of the public in the preparation of the report on the status of preservation of the natural and cultural heritage of the Ohrid Region, which the Government should submit to UNESCO.
Today, thirty-one (31) CSOs and higher educational institutions submitted letters to Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, Minister of Culture and Chair of the National Commission for UNESCO Irena Stefoska, Minister of Environment and Physical Planning Naser Nuredini, President of the Commission for Managing the World Natural and Cultural Heritage of the Ohrid Region Zoran Pavlov, the Director of the Environment Directorate Xhezmi Saliu and the Director of the Office for Cultural Heritage Protection Aco Kostov.
The letters request public inspection and public consultations during the preparation of the Draft Report on the status of protection of the natural and cultural heritage of the Ohrid Region and the implementation of UNESCO’s recommendations, which is prepared by Macedonian governmental institutions. The “Clear it Up” Alliance believes that the involvement of the public in informing the UNESCO World Heritage Center is particularly important due to the extremely vulnerable situation in the Ohrid Region, in relation to further activities to preserve the greatest natural and cultural heritage.
According to the Law on Managing the World Natural and Cultural Heritage of the Ohrid Region and the Aarhus Convention, governmental institutions are obligated to make the Draft Report available to the public, seek the opinion of scientific and educational institutions and professional organizations within at least 30 days and properly incorporate the opinions obtained from the conducted public inspection in the final text of the report. Hence, the “Clear it Up” Alliance expects the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning and the Ministry of Culture to publish the Draft Report on their websites, to inform the citizens and the professional public where and by what date they may submit comments, as well as to incorporate the opinions received in the final version of the Report.
The “Clear it Up” Alliance also demands that the Ministry of Culture immediately publish the Draft Report on the Ohrid Region 2020 prepared by the UNESCO Reactive Monitoring Mission. According to the Aarhus Convention, the Government is obligated to provide citizens with access to information related to environment and nature, because the world heritage of the Ohrid Region belongs to everyone.
The Advocacy and Lobbying Alliance is led by the Institute of Communication Studies as part of the “Clear it Up” campaign.
Requests to the competent institutions are available HERE.
Contact person:
Dejan Andonov, Coordinator of the Advocacy and Lobbying Campaign “Clear it Up” – ; 071 317 661.