CCB welcomes the release from custody of our colleague Iryna Sukhy and expresses strong support to Belarusian civil society organizations

CCB • September 11, 2020

Coalition Clean Baltic – CCB welcomes the release from custody of our long-time colleague and environmental activist Iryna Sukhy and expresses strong support and solidarity with the peaceful actions of Belarusian civil society organizations .

Iryna Sukhy, the co-founder of the NGO Ecohome was unjustifiably convicted last Sunday, 6 September in Belarus. Regretfully, her situation became yet another and truly unprecedented case of blocking access to justice, following Iryna’s strong stand and position on numerous environmental deficiencies in Belarus. Harassment of activists working in non-profit environmental organizations is totally unacceptable and CCB’s protest against such measures is not linked to a political situation in a country but about the targeting of people that dedicate their lives to protecting our environment.

At the same time, we would like to remind that environmental protection in the Baltic Sea Region has always being the uniting element between the countries, irrespective of their political systems and ruling ideology, recognizing no borders.

We believe that violence and confrontation, leads only to further escalation of a conflict and splitting up the Belarusian society, and therefore call upon all parties for a dialogue to resolve the crisis.

We support the efforts of CCB’s Belarusian members and partners in promoting such a dialogue through strengthened civil society engagement, public participation, awareness raising and capacity building.

* Coalition Clean Baltic is a network of 24 environmental NGOs from 11 Baltic Sea Region countries, striving to protect the environment and natural resources of the Baltic Sea for present and future generations.

On behalf of the CCB
Aija Caune,
CCB Chairlady

Download the full statement here.

CCB is looking for a Network Officer to join our team at the CCB International Secretariat

By CCB • April 9, 2025
Coalition Clean Baltic – CCB is a politically independent network, uniting 27 environmental non-profit organizations, as well as partners and experts from 11 countries surrounding the Baltic Sea. The main goal of CCB is to promote the protection and improvement of the environment and natural resources of the Baltic Sea region by encouraging new and constructive approaches and engaging people to become part of the solution instead of part of the problem. CCB Secretariat is based in Uppsala, Sweden.

Attacks on NGOs: 570+ Organisations Join Forces to Defend Civil Society

By CCB • April 7, 2025
European civil society organisations (CSOs) are currently facing an attack coming from certain Members of the European Parliament. Spearheaded by some MEPs from the European People’s Party (EPP) and by far-right groups, this attack resorts to misleading arguments to fabricate a scandal. This portrayal has been amplified through the media, with notable exceptions of articles that attempted to clarify this misleading narrative. European CSOs are crucial to ensure the voices of citizens from different parts of Europe are heard in the EU institutions. Attacks against civil society are unfortunately not new and are exacerbated by this harmful idea. Furthermore, for-profit corporate lobbying is through the roof when compared to non-profit advocacy. In 2024, the 50 corporations with the largest lobbying budgets collectively spent nearly €200 million on lobbying the EU alone (66% more than in 2015). Comparing this to the funding environmental NGOs receive under the LIFE programme - €15.6 million annually of a €700 million yearly budget - truly shows the weakness of this ‘scandal’. This is why over 570 civil society organisations from 40 countries, including all EU Member States, have joined forces to call on those in power to act now and ensure that civil society is adequately funded and enabled to share our crucial perspectives . In this statement, we address: The source of this false narrative; Inaccurate claims made about how CSOs obtain and use funding; Why it’s paramount that CSOs receive sufficient funding; The need for civil dialogue to enable CSOs participation. Democracy is about the right of citizens to be collectively heard for building an inclusive society and a shared European future; properly funded independent CSOs are a crucial tool for that. We call on decision-makers to ensure civil society organisations can thrive and play their role in interacting with policy-makers in order to have a more fully informed decision-making process. Read the full statement here . -END Civil Society Europe (CSE) is the coordination of civil society organisations at EU level. Through its membership, CSE unites EU-level membership-based organisations that reach out to millions of people active in or supported by not-for-profits and civil society organisations across the EU. CSE was created by several civil society organisations as a follow-up to the European Year of Citizens and was established as an international not-for-profit under Belgian law in 2016. Since then, it has become the point of reference for EU institutions on transversal issues concerning civil dialogue and civic space.