Lawmaker calls for higher legal status of 'green' laws
14/3/2006 10:25
In the wake of a string of environmental incidents stirring public alarm,
a lawmaker has proposed adding "the citizens' right to environmental
information" into the Constitution and raising the legal status of existing
"green" laws.
"The right to a clean and safe environment should be regarded
as a basic human right. To effectively guarantee this right, the citizens' right
to learn environmental information and to participate in environmental
protection should be included in the Constitution," said Jin Zhiguo, a deputy to
the 10th National People's Congress, in Beijing.
The existing law on
environmental protection does not stipulate the rights of victims of pollution
or other environmental incidents. Nor does it stipulate the legal liabilities of
the state regarding environmental protection, Jin said.
As a result, power
abuse of governments and officials often occurs on environmental issues,
violating the environmental rights of citizens, the lawmaker added.
"The
amendment to the Constitution will lay a solid legal foundation for the
establishment of a complete and effective system to guarantee the environmental
rights of the people," Jin said.
The lawmaker also suggested the legal status
of the existing law on environmental protection be elevated to make it "a basic
law of the country."
The existing law on environmental protection, which was
adopted by the Standing Committee of the NPC, is too weak to meet growing
environmental challenges facing the country, Jin said.
The law should be
resubmitted to the annual full session of the NPC, which has the power to amend
laws in the Constitution as well as the Criminal Law, for a second adoption and
promulgation, the lawmaker said.
Rapid economic growth over the past decades,
fueled by some local governments' blind pursuit of higher gross domestic product
figures, has led to worsening pollution and other environmental problems. It has
prompted the central leadership to push a "scientific concept of development,"
featuring more efficient use of resources and better environmental
protection.
The right to environmental information aroused public concern in
November following the pollution of the Songhua River in northeast
China.
About 100 tons of pollutants containing benzene spilled into the river
after a chemical plant explosion on November 13 in Jilin Province.
Xinhua
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