The judiciary plays a pivotal role in combating attacks on the environment

On Tuesday, in Tipaza, the Minister of Environment and Quality of Life, Kaoutar Kriko, emphasized the pivotal role played by the judiciary in combating and deterring environmental attacks, because of their direct effects on the stability of the lives of citizens and their surroundings.

The Minister said, in an opening speech for a study day organized at the Higher Judicial School on “The Legal and Regulatory Framework for Environmental Protection Designated for Student Judges,” that “playing that pivotal role requires the judicial authorities to involve specialists and experts in the field of the environment when necessary while adjudicating cases of an environmental nature in accordance with applicable legislation.”

The Minister of Environment renewed the strengthening of her sector’s cooperation and permanent coordination with the Ministry of Justice and the competent judicial authorities in the field of preventing and combating environmental violations in order to preserve public health and protect the ecological balance, and to embody Algeria’s international obligations in this field, especially with the periodic updating of environmental legislation.

In this regard, she pointed to her sector’s efforts in this area, such as the process of installing more than 282 environmental inspectors, in addition to field outputs for technical inspection by the sector in coordination with local authorities and judicial police officers in the field of inspecting and proving violations and adjusting them before presenting them to the competent judicial authorities for adjudication.

Mrs. Kriko pointed out that the organization of this meeting came to highlight the extent of institutional integration between those responsible for most of the sectoral preventive and deterrent mechanisms for protecting the environment, as the environmental sector works to establish the preventive rules and controls stipulated by law through the specialized training of inspectors across various parts of the country.

For his part, the Director of the Higher School of the Judiciary, Abdel Karim Jaadi, touched on the legal arsenal that Algeria enacted to protect the environment in line with all the international agreements that have been ratified, such as the Convention to Combat Desertification and Protect Biodiversity, in addition to other agreements.

In this regard, he highlighted that Algeria is adopting a comprehensive approach built between prevention, control and deterrence, ensuring the achievement of sustainable development goals and also ensuring the preservation of a healthy environment, noting the initiative to organize this study day at the Higher Judicial School, which would enable future judges to learn about the current challenges facing the environment.

The work of the study day, which dealt with national legislation, Algeria’s international obligations and the extent to which the judiciary plays its role in protecting the environment, culminated in a set of recommendations, the most important of which is the involvement of environmental specialists and experts when necessary during the adjudication of cases of an environmental nature, by the competent judicial authorities, and the launch of a training program at the level of judicial authorities on the regulatory framework for preserving biological diversity, especially natural reserves, and enhancing coordination between the two sectors.