The government insists on provisions dangerous for democracy and human rights

Statement by AKEL Parliamentary Representative G.Loukaides after the Parliamentary Health Committee’s session

2 December 2021

The Dangerous Infectious Diseases Law was debated today in the Parliamentary Health Committee. Unfortunately, despite the fact that the government has sent a revised text, it has chosen to retain dangerous provisions in the relevant legislation on democracy and the rule of law.

The government, through the revised text of the bill too, is insisting that Parliament should be completely bypassed and that its authorisation to the executive power shouldn’t be required to permit decrees to be issued in the case of dangerous infectious diseases.

The government insists on not clarifying what constitutes a dangerous infectious disease, on not needing to have the position of the World Health Organization and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) before deciding to declare a state of emergency where it is deemed necessary to take measures that would suspend human rights protections.

The government insists that it has the unfettered right to suspend all fundamental human rights and freedoms, even rights such as the freedom of expression and freedom of association. In other words, to decide for itself what constitutes a contagious disease, to decide without the approval of Parliament to end the protection of human rights in the way it is already seeking, and to go so far as to effectively block out the legislative power and the judiciary.

From the moment we got our hands on this bill with its dangerous provisions, we called on the government to review them completely. Following today’s debate, we expect that the government will take the views of the majority of the members of the Health Committee seriously into account and come back with a truly revised text that protects democracy, human rights and the rule of law.