Ercs

The Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland (ERCS) has urged a top UN body to intervene against the Scottish Civil Justice Council (SCJC) for breaching the right to public participation in environmental decision-making, which is enshrined in the Aarhus Convention. In October 2021, the governing ins

The title of The Herald’s recent Beyond Breaking Point: Scotland’s Legal Aid Crisis series reflects the reality of legally-aided lawyering in Scotland, writes Dr Ben Christman. The concerns expressed in those articles over the bureaucracy of the legal aid system, the inadequate pay rates

Environmental and human rights campaigners rallied outside the Court of Session yesterday to mark the Scottish government missing a crucial deadline for compliance with the with the UN Aarhus Convention’s access to justice requirements.

New PEO rules still fall foul of the Aarhus Convention, writes Ben Christman.  The Scottish Civil Justice Council (SCJC) published an amendment to Scotland’s Protective Expenses Order (PEO) rules on 28 June 2024. This amendment followed repeated criticism of the cost of litigation over th

Time is running out for the Scottish government to meet a UN environmental justice deadline according to scrutiny by the Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland (ERCS), which brings to light a "series of failings" in reforming access to justice in Scotland. Scotland has been repeatedly found in bre