Only one out of four requests for information from public bodies in Cyprus even got a response, according to a comprehensive report that calls for major reforms.
The Open Cyprus Project asked for information from 20 public bodies in Cyprus, submitting 393 information requests. They were met with “administrative silence” in the Republic of Cyprus 72% of the time, and the nonresponse rate was in the northern part of Cyprus was 78% of the time.
Only 7% of the requests in the Republic of Cyprus resulted in the release of any information at all; 9% in the northern part.
“Overall, the monitoring survey found that across the island the right of access to information is being breached and public bodies are failing to comply with Council of Europe standards on access to information,” according to a Feb. 24 press release.
The Open Cyprus Project, which is led by three civil society organizations – KAB, IKME and Access Info Europe – also monitored public bodies’ websites and found “low levels of proactively published information.” In the Republic of Cyprus only 36% of basic information is available, whereas in the northern part of Cyprus this figure drops to 13%.
The extensive analysis of existing laws says the legal framework across Cyprus “has numerous flaws.”
“Cyprus is falling seriously below European standards on access to information,” noted Ilke Dagli from KAB.
The Open Cyprus Project is holding a public consultation on the findings and recommendations that will run to April 29. Opinions are sought via the website: www.accessinfocyprus.eu.
Access Info Europe is an international human rights organization based in Madrid.
KAB is founded by a group of Civil Society volunteers in 2006 with the aim of ensuring that information flow among the Turkish Cypriots and the international community.
IKME was registered in 2002 in Cyprus as a nongovernmental organization aiming to contribute to the prevalence of freedom, democracy, socialism and the European values.
The report was researched, written and edited by Helen Darbishire and David Pardo of Access Info Europe, Faika Deniz Pasha, Dervi? Musannif, Ilke Dagli and Didem Erel of the EU Cyprus Association (KAB), and Orestis Tringides and Alecos Tringides of the Institute for Social-Political Studies (IKME). Additional legal analysis was by David Goldberg, Oncel Polili and Panayiota Stavrou.
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