Thirty-eight organisations denounce the ongoing harassment against KISA and call on the Cypriot authorities to reinstate their official registration as NGO
The following statement appeared on the website of the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM) on 19 February 2021, and was signed by 38 international and national organisations.
On 3 March, KISA, a leading non-governmental organisation fighting for equality in Cyprus, will have a hearing that has implications for their very survival.
In December 2020, the Cypriot Minister of Interior abruptly removed KISA, and many other civil society organisations, from the Register of Associations. He did so using his new, self-attributed powers to start a dissolution process for NGOs if certain regulatory requirements were not met within a two-month notice period. In KISA’s case, they informed the authorities of a delay in organising their general assembly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite KISA indicating that all formal requirements would be met within a short time period, and appealing against the Minister’s decision, they were nonetheless deleted from the Register of Associations.
This is just the latest move in a long campaign to discredit and silence independent voices in Cyprus, in particular KISA, and ultimately attack the foundations of democratic pluralism. The trend of shrinking civic space seems to be dangerously spreading all across the region. For example, in November 2019, Greece proposed worrying amendments to the Greek legislation on NGO registration engaged in activities related to asylum, migration, and social inclusion. On 27 December 2020, the Turkish Parliament approved legislation further restricting NGOs and civil society activities under the guise of countering terrorism.
On 3 March 2021, the Cypriot administrative court will review KISA’s appeal against the decision to remove the organisation from the Register of Associations, through an expedited procedure. If the removal of KISA from the register is confirmed and the procedure for dissolution completed, people in extreme situations of vulnerability will stop receiving crucial help, and Cypriot democracy will lose one of its leading independent voices. [Read more here.]
