Aarhus Center opens in Sombor, sixth in Serbia

Following Kragujevac, New Belgrade, Nis, Novi Sad and Subotica, the sixth Aarhus Center in Serbia opened in Sombor at a ceremony on Friday. As said at the opening in the premises of CBC Cluster Sombor in Kosovska Street, Aarhus Center Sombor will be a place meant for the strengthening of the rights of the citizens to access to information, participation in decision-making and access to justice when it comes to environmental protection questions, in line with the principles of the Aarhus Convention.

The gathering was addressed by Carolina Hidea, Acting Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, who thanked all the partners that had enabled the opening of the Aarhus Center, the city of Sombor, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, CBC Cluster and Aarhus Center Novi Sad.

– Today’s opening is much more than just an expansion of the network of Aarhus Centers. It is another confirmation of our joint dedication to transparency, responsibility and considerable participation of the public in the questions which concern the living environment – said Acting Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia.

Words of welcome were also said by Sava Dojic, the member of the City Council for finance and economy, Predrag Susic, the director of CBC Cluster, and Darija Sajin, the manager of Aarhus Center Novi Sad. The mission, the vision and the future activities were presented by Jelena Ilic, an associate of Aarhus Center Sombor, and the official of the City Administration for environmental protection, Milovan Topic, also spoke. An oak was planted symbolically in the yard area at the end of the ceremony.

The Aarhus Convention is a document that was adopted in 1998 at the European Conference in the Danish city of Aarhus. The convention aims to strengthen the role of citizens and civil society organizations when it comes to the question which concern the living environment.

By the way, in Sombor, in 2012, in one of the passages in Kralja Petra I Street, an Aarhus office was opened as a branch of Aarhus Center Novi Sad, but it didn’t get off the ground at the time.

Misija OEBS-a u Srbiji

Grad Sombor

Aarhus Center Sombor

OSCE Mission to Serbia

CBC Cluster Sombor

Carolina Hidea

Sava Dojić

Predrag Sušić

Darija Šajin