Eighteen civil society organisations have sent a joint open letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Annita Dimitriou, the members of the parliamentary Environment Committee and all MPs, rejecting the Committee’s decision to register an item on the activity of environmental and activist organisations. The organisations say their work is not “a phenomenon to be addressed,” but a foundation of the democratic system of governance.
The Committee’s decision to examine “measures to address the phenomenon” — prompted by increased scrutiny of, and complaints about, illegal activities such as poaching and environmental degradation — has stirred a wave of protests. It follows the exclusion of BirdLife Cyprus and the Committee Against Bird Slaughter from a related Committee discussion.
The discussion, titled “measures to address the phenomenon” of activist organisations’ activity, was first filed on June 23 by ELAM MPs Linos Papayiannis and Linos Ioannis Hadjigeorgiou, and has been the subject of sustained controversy since.
It effectively targets groups such as the Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS), which works with Cyprus’s authorities to identify illegal traps and nets; CABS has reported 55 poaching convictions and the release of more than 1,200 protected birds from last autumn’s campaign alone, and has described the parliamentary move as a “trap” designed to blindside law enforcement.
On Wednesday, both CABS and BirdLife Cyprus were excluded from the Committee’s debate on the item, with BirdLife saying its request to attend and testify was rejected for the first time in its 24 years of active work.
In their letter, the co-signing organisations raised strong concerns and serious reservations about how the item was worded. They said the use of terms such as “phenomenon” and “countermeasures” sets a dangerous institutional precedent, one that tends to target and criminalise legitimate activity, the pursuit of law enforcement, and public criticism.
The organisations said they have a direct, genuine and ongoing legal interest in protecting the environment, defending human rights and fundamental freedoms, monitoring the enforcement of legislation and recording violations. They added that many of Cyprus’s most serious environmental issues have come to light thanks to the research and mobilisation of active citizens.
