As the Eastern Mediterranean is once again in turmoil, Cyprus would like to take action, recognizing the political urgency of safeguarding cultural rights in times of crisis, Deputy Minister of Culture Vassiliki Kassianidou said during her address at the MED9 conference on "Cultural rights in times of crisis", which took place on Monday morning at the University of Cyprus in Nicosia.
Ms. Kassianidou also highlighted the support provided by the Permanent Mission of Cyprus in Geneva for several years to the UN mandate on cultural rights and led to an initiative on cultural rights and the protection of cultural heritage in the Human Rights Council of UN, with a joint statement co-signed by 146 member states and observer states.
According to the Deputy Minister, the conference was organized by the Deputy Ministry of Culture in collaboration with the Organization for European Programs and Cultural Relations and the University of Cyprus in the context of the MED9 Summit, an initiative launched in 2014 by Cyprus in collaboration with Spain, seeking the strengthening informal cooperation between the Member States of the Mediterranean and Southern Europe, which includes Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain.
He added that this year, Cyprus holds the Presidency of MED9, with a series of ministerial meetings already held or scheduled to take place in the next two weeks, noting also that on Monday afternoon he will chair an online meeting of Ministers of Culture, during which will hold a policy debate to identify the challenges to safeguarding cultural rights in the Mediterranean region, as well as approaches aimed at integrating strengthening the resilience of the cultural and creative sectors into wider human rights policies.
At the end of the meeting, a declaration on cultural rights will be adopted, he added, adding that the highlight of the Cypriot presidency will be the MED9 Heads of State meeting in Cyprus in the second week of October, where the results of the ministerial meetings will be adopted, including of today.
The main purpose behind the creation of the MED9 group is to discuss issues of common interest and jointly introduce some debates in Brussels in the context of the developing agenda of the European Union, continued Ms. Kassianidou, adding that bringing culture to the forefront of politics discussion is a matter of common interest for all MED9 states, as is the safeguarding of culture in times of crisis.
“Recent years have seen an increase in the frequency and complexity of crises, highlighted by the accelerating pace of political, economic, climate and technological challenges. This is an issue I would like to explore further during the Cyprus Presidency of the EU in the first half of 2026," continued the Deputy Minister, further noting that in times of crisis it is even more critical to take measures to protect cultural rights and recognition that cultural rights are important in many current debates such as sustainable development.
According to Mrs. Kassianidou, the choice of the topic of the conference and the policy debate is not accidental, as last July five decades were completed since the invasion and illegal occupation of Cyprus by Turkey.
"Besides the loss of human lives and material goods and the fact that over 36% of the territory of the Republic of Cyprus remains to this day under the occupation of the Turkish army, there is a clear violation of the cultural rights of Cypriots: our cultural heritage suffers from continued looting, destruction, theft and illegal exports, while Cypriots are not allowed to live in their homes or freely use their places of worship located in the occupied part of the island," he underlined.
He added that Cyprus is also celebrating this year the 20th anniversary of its accession to the European Union. "Cyprus historically and culturally always belonged to Europe. Since ancient times, the island was considered the easternmost border of Europe and functioned as a bridge between Europe and the Middle East. As the Eastern Mediterranean is now once again in turmoil, Cyprus would like to take action, recognizing the political urgency of safeguarding cultural rights in times of crisis," he stressed.
He also underlined the support provided for several years by the permanent mission of Cyprus in Geneva to the UN cultural rights mandate and led to an initiative on cultural rights and the protection of cultural heritage at the UN Human Rights Council, with a joint statement prepared and delivered by the Permanent Representative of Cyprus to the 31st session of the Human Rights Council in March 2016, focusing on the detrimental impact of cultural heritage destruction on cultural rights.
He added that the joint statement was co-signed by an unprecedented number of 146 member states and observers. "The meeting in Geneva with the UN special rapporteur, Professor Alexandra Xanthakis, and Dragana Korljan from the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, was what convinced me that the newly established Deputy Ministry of Culture can and should do more for to support the mandate for cultural rights", emphasized the Deputy Minister.
"For this reason I asked for the help of Ms. Xanthakis in drafting the Declaration on Cultural Rights that will be discussed and adopted by the Ministers of Culture of the MED9 this afternoon", he noted.
The Rector of the University of Cyprus, Professor Tasos Christofidis, said in his own welcome that as members of a unique geographical region, the MED9 share common values and expectations for the future, deeply connected to the rich heritage of the Mediterranean region and aware of the enormous challenges that they face.
“In the era of rapid technological progress, how can we safeguard genuine creativity from the invasion of artificial intelligence? How can we balance culture and technology? In what ways do we educate viewers, readers, and listeners to recognize and respect the original over copies? These are some of the questions I have in mind when I consider the cultural heritage of humanity and what we will bequeath to future generations as a mindset and as a historical legacy. I am sure that during this conference we will explore many aspects of cultural rights in troubled times through a cross-sectoral approach,” he noted.
Catherine Magnant, head of the European Commission's Cultural Policy Unit, said in her intervention from Brussels that each MED9 member state has its own role to play in preserving its culture and protecting its cultural rights.
He added that cultural rights are violated when war and geopolitical instability force artists to remain silent, when economic hardships limit access to culture and deprive people of their right to participate in cultural life, when climate change threatens to disappear from the map cultural heritage monuments of centuries when technological advances are misused to censor every thoughtful expression.
He also referred to relevant EU policy actions, such as the package of measures to protect democracy adopted in 2023, which includes a series of initiatives aimed at increasing citizens' participation, engagement and trust in democracy, new rules on protection of media pluralism and independence, measures to improve the social and professional situation of artists, as well as the EU program for Southern Europe to strengthen the role of culture as a sector of employment and resilience and to promote active participation of young people in building inclusive democratic societies.
The United Nations Special Rapporteur in the field of Cultural Rights and Professor of Law at Brunel University London, Alexandra Xanthakis, in her keynote speech thanked Cyprus for its leadership position in matters of cultural heritage and cultural rights in general, as, as she said, it strengthened and continues to enhance the understanding and development of standards related to cultural rights.
He added that Cyprus is the author of a resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council, the main UN human rights body, which reinforces and clarifies the importance of cultural heritage and cultural diversity to international human rights standards, a resolution which, he said, proved quite popular and was unanimously adopted.
She then referred to her role as Special Rapporteur, which mainly involves identifying best practices and barriers to cultural rights at all levels, promoting the adoption of measures to promote and safeguard cultural rights, and studying the relationship between cultural rights and cultural diversity, which is mainly carried out by engaging in dialogue with States during official visits.
"I am pleased to note that the MED9 states are ratifying and renewing their support for existing standards of international human rights law regarding cultural rights. I hope that this declaration on cultural rights will act unifying and renewing the focus of states friendly to my mandate and will also enable more states to join forces for their respective cultural rights,” he concluded.
The Director of the Department of Antiquities, George Georgiou, said for his part that Cyprus has a long history of widespread loss of its cultural heritage, adding that the ongoing occupation has greatly affected the cultural rights of the island's communities, who have no or only limited access to material heritage remains in the occupied part of the island.
He added that there are 269 preserved ancient monuments in the occupied territories and that since 1974, damage has been recorded in all categories of cultural monuments in the occupied territories.
"The destruction of people's cultural heritage, apart from being an attack on their human rights to enjoy their heritage, is also seriously damaging to their identity. The destruction of monuments, places, landscapes and cultural objects, as well as the attack on the intangible heritage, are serious forms of violence aimed at destroying the existence of every group of people with a common identity", underlined Mr. Georgiou, adding that all the efforts he makes the Department and the Government in general for the protection, preservation and promotion of culture are strengthened by regional cultural cooperation, with the aim of enhancing cultural diversity, intercultural dialogue, peace and equality.
