Monthly Event Reports
February 2024 | Parliament considers bill to improve public participation
A proposal to allow members of the public to submit legislative proposals to the Parliament has been submitted by MP Christiana Erotokritou from the centrist Democratic Party (DIKO). The bill would allow members of the public to submit motions to Parliament as long as they have obtained 5,000 signatures. The public’s proposals would then be vetted by the legal department of Parliament, adopted by one or more MPs, and discussed in a parliamentary committee. Erotokritou states that the purpose is to increase public participation and give them direct access to the democratic process. The proposal is currently up for review by the House legal affairs committee.
January 2024 | Bomb attack on anti-racism NGO
On 5 January, the office of the NGO Kisa (Action for Equality, Support, Antiracism) was attacked with an improvised explosive device, destroying windows, computers and archives. Kisa reported receiving threats in recent years with “racist and nationalist motives.” The attacker is unknown, and a police investigation is ongoing. Kisa has criticized Cypriot authorities for contributing to a hostile environment, including by systematically undermining the organization’s legitimacy (for example by removing Kisa from the register of associations in 2020) and failing to investigate previous threats and harassment against the organization and its staff. The European Network Against Racism (ENAR) condemned the attack and raised concerns over the lack of response from Cypriot authorities. ENAR and other human rights organizations report that the attack is part of a broader trend of escalating hostilities and divisive rhetoric targeting marginalized communities, especially migrants, and the organizations that support them in Cyprus.
September 2023 | Demonstrators commit racist attacks against migrants
On 1 September, an anti-immigration demonstration in Limassol, a port city in southern Cyprus, spiralled into violent mobs damaging migrant-owned shops and perpetrating racist attacks, leading to the hospitalisation of five people. These attacks escalate and entrench an existing phenomenon in which migrants are targeted and made to feel unsafe in their communities, and are likely to erode the trust of migrant communities in law enforcement. NGOs have reported a recent surge in racist attacks against migrants and refugees, after far-right groups attacked migrants in Chloraka in August and two people were injured in Limassol in June. Police arrested 13 people including the organiser of the 1 September demonstration. Local anti-racism and migrant rights organisation Kisa reported that it had contacted the police to warn them in advance that the attacks were being coordinated on social media, but the police did not respond to Kisa’s offer to share the information it had gathered. Kisa has accused authorities of failure to protect migrants and to hold far-right attackers accountable.
August 2023 | Turkish Cypriot security forces clash with UN peacekeepers
Turkish Cypriot police attacked UN peacekeepers seeking to prevent unauthorised attempts by Turkish Cypriot authorities to build a road encroaching on the UN buffer zone, a demilitarised zone established in 1964 after the de facto partition of the country. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) justified the construction of the road saying it was for “purely humanitarian purposes” and aimed to improve access to Turkish Cypriots living in the buffer zone town of Pyla/Pile, which is home to both a Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot population. The attack, which led to the hospitalisation of three UN personnel, has been widely condemned including by the UN and European Commission. While it is regular for UN peacekeepers to respond to incidents around the buffer zone, it is rare for this type of serious incident at the buffer zone to take place.
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