Written declaration No. 503 | Doc. 12847 | 25 January 2012
Condemnation of the man-made ecological disaster project of Teghut
The Armenian Government, violating its international obligations, such as Article 1 of the Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights, the Aarhus Convention, as well as Armenian legislation, by considering the agricultural lands of community and private ownership as being under the public supreme interest, against the will of their owners and the general public, forcefully takes those lands from their owners, changes their purpose and turns thousands of hectares over to mining, including the Teghut mine.
According to independent experts, the damage caused to nature by the exploitation of the Teghut mine will be immeasurable, as not only thousands of hectares of forest and rich biodiversity included in the “Red Book” will be lost, but also about 500 million tons of poisoned waste full of heavy metals and about 600 million tons of other kinds of waste will be produced.
According to a decision of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ACCC/C/2009/43), the decisions of the Government of Armenia regarding the exploitation of the mine in Teghut and its adjacent territory does not comply with the Aarhus Convention.
We strongly condemn the continuing violations of the international obligations of the Armenian government and we demand that all decisions regarding the Teghut mining exploitation be considered invalid.