COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD REVIEWS SECOND PERIODIC REPORT OF CYPRUS

CRC
33rd session
21 May 2003




The Committee on the Rights of the Child today considered the second periodic report of Cyprus on how it was implementing the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Leda Koursoumba, Law Commissioner of Cyprus and head of the Cypriot delegation, said that Cyprus was traditionally a child-centered society, with a strong family focus, as measured by societal rules. However, the situation was not perfect, although it had improved, and there remained room for improvement.
The delegation of Cyprus said that the institution of Law Commissioner had been instituted in 1972 and kept the gap between the law and the implementation of the law as small as possible. In reality, the important part of conventions and laws was not their ratification, but their implementation. With regard to the budget, there was no particular percentage of the Governmental budget earmarked for children, and this was a point which required remedy now that it had been pointed out, the delegation noted. Ministries would be encouraged to allocate part of their budgets specifically to children.
Committee Experts questioned the delegation, among other things, about who had participated in the drafting of the report; the decrease in the birth rate; how children with disabilities were integrated and what was the reaction of society to these children; whether programmes existed to inform children about their rights, and domestic violence.
In preliminary concluding remarks, Marilia Sardenberg Goncalves, the Committee Expert who served as Rapporteur on the report of Cyprus, said that the discussion had been most interesting and informative. Cyprus had a window of opportunity to enhance children’s rights and to bring the important concept of children as subject to these rights to the front of the political discussion on that island.
The Committee will issue its final recommendations on the report of Cyprus towards the end of its spring session which will conclude on 6 June.
Other members of the delegation of Cyprus were Frances-Galatia Lanitou-Williams, Chargé d’Affaires at the Permanent Mission of Cyprus in Geneva; Eleni Loizidou, Senior Counselor, Attorney General’s Office; Annita Koni, Principal Welfare Officer, Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance; and Thalia Nicolaou, Senior Welfare Officer, Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance.
The Committee will reconvene on Thursday, 22 May, at 10 a.m. to consider the initial report of Zambia (CRC/C/11/Add.25).

Second Periodic Report of Cyprus
The report (CRC/C/70/Add.16) reviews the implementation in Cyprus of specific articles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The report does this on an article-by-article basis, and includes changes that have been made to implement the suggestions made by the Committee after the presentation of the initial report of Cyprus.
Notably, in the context of article 9, which stipulates that a child shall not be separated from his or her parents against his or her will except when competent authorities subject to judicial review determine this, the report indicates that there is still a category of children whose above right is utterly violated, the children whose parents live in the part of Cyprus which has been occupied by the Turkish military forces since 1974. In this occupied area, secondary education is not allowed by the Greeks and Maronites, and therefore the children of the area are either deprived of education, or separated from their parents to attend school elsewhere.
In response to the previous recommendations of the Committee, a study has been initiated to improve the understanding of the nature and scope of child neglect and abuse in Cyprus. A new law has been enacted under the title "Combatting of Trafficking in Persons and Sexual Exploitation of Children". Progress has also been made in the area of deinstitutionalization of mentally disabled children, and social integration was promoted. In general, Cyprus does not face problems regarding child exploitation, and laws have been enacted to ensure that this remains the case.

Presentation of Report
LEDA KOURSOUMBA, Law Commissioner of Cyprus, introduced the report, apologizing for the fact that it left much to be desired. This was due to the fact that during the relevant period, the limited human resources of Cyprus were devoted to two other major tasks that were of primary importance for the future of the country, namely paving the way for the accession of Cyprus to the European Union, and efforts for a solution to the Cypriot political problem.
There had been a number of developments worth highlighting, and these had been submitted in writing. With regard to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, Cyprus had signed the said Protocol, and the relevant ratification bill should be enacted shortly. In relation to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the involvement of children in armed conflicts, the matter was still under consideration. Ms. Koursoumba said international treaties ratified by Cyprus, and any rules emanating from such treaties, had superior force vis á vis internal legislation, with the exception of the Constitution.
Cyprus was traditionally a child-centered society, with a strong family focus, as measured by societal rules. However, the situation was not perfect, although it had improved, and there remained room for a lot of improvement. Being aware of these weaknesses and shortcomings, there was belief that the first step of achieving Cyprus's goal had been reached: the full satisfaction of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In the meantime, the Government of Cyprus tried to be guided by the concluding observations on the initial report of Cyprus and by the various international instruments on the subject.

Discussion
MARILIA SARDENBERG GONCALVES, the Committee's Rapporteur on the report of Cyprus, noted that the format of the report made it difficult to understand the progress that had been made in the country, and this was regrettable. She then queried whether the Ottawa Landmines Convention had been ratified since its signature, and hoped that the Convention on Migrants would be ratified over the next year. Other members of the Committee then asked such questions as who had participated in the drafting of the report, and requested further details with regard to the allocations for children in the budget of Cyprus. Other problems highlighted were travel difficulties from one zone to the other, and the difficulty of access by children to family and relatives in the other zone. The decrease in the birth rate was also noted, and questions as to the reasons for this were asked, as were questions with regard to the reasons for differing ages of legal adulthood, depending on the circumstances and the legislation. The Committee also noted the difficulty of getting information from the occupied area.
MS. KOURSOUMBA, Law Commissioner of Cyprus, then responded, saying that the delegation acknowledged the difficulty posed by the format of the report. There were also shortcomings, and these would hopefully be remedied in the next report. As legislation stood today, young men, as of 1 January of the year in which they reached their 18th year of age, could be recruited into the military forces, where no distinction was taken of their age. The Government was looking into this to ensure that in the future such young people were not involved in situations of conflict.
The delegation also explained how international treaties, protocols and conventions were integrated into national legislation and how they were treated in the courts. The institution of Law Commissioner had been instituted in 1972 and kept the gap between the law and the implementation of the law as small as possible. The work of the Law Commissioner and his functions was then explained in detail. In reality, said the delegation, the important part of conventions and laws was not their ratification, but their implementation. There was no single Government ministry which had the responsibility for implementation of such treaties and laws.
Data collection, said the delegation, was a sore point with the Government. The situation was unsatisfactory. Each ministry collected its own data for its own purposes. This was an identified problem, and an expert had been engaged to create a separate databank for different sections of the population.
Different ages of criminal responsibility, as defined by the capacity of the child to identify the nature and gravity of his or her crime, were responsible for what the Committee had perceived as different ages of legal adulthood. The delegation said the responsibility of each specific child was determined primarily by the Attorney General, in consultation with Social Services, in the aim of the best interests of the child. There were special provisions in the legal code with regard to sexual offences performed by children. Under the age of 12, children were not considered to be capable of committing a sexual offence.
With regard to the budget, there was no particular percentage of the Governmental budget earmarked for children, and this was a point which required remedy now that it had been pointed out, the delegation said. Ministries would be encouraged to allocate part of their budgets specifically to children. A Committee member pointed out that this was probably why the compilation of the report had been so difficult and why it did not fulfill the criteria set out for its presentation.
The people of both sides of Cyprus had shown that they wanted to live together, and it was hoped that this would develop into a phenomenon similar to the fall of the Berlin Wall, which would resolve the issue of Greek Cypriot children who were in the occupied area and their lack of secondary education without having to abandon their families and move to the un-occupied area. Statistical information on this phenomenon was unclear since the Government of Cyprus could not compile such figures itself, and it had to rely on the United Nations Mission in the area.
Turkish children and families living in the Government-controlled areas did not suffer in any way from any form of discrimination, said the delegation. They were provided with social services, including health, in exactly the same way as were the Greek Cypriot families. Education was free and compulsory up until the age of 18 in the public sector, and this was for all children, whatever their ethnic or religious background.
The Committee then moved on to the next cluster of topics, and asked questions with regard to how marriage changed the legal status of a child to adulthood, and the age of legal marriage. Ms. Goncalves asked for a more visible commitment by the Government to the concept of the child as a subject of rights, and recommended the idea of a national strategy to implement the Convention, as instrumental to translating words into actions. Further, she asked for more emphasis and weight to be given to monitoring at the national level, since this would increase potential for implementation with all the Governmental agencies working together. She then spoke of the lingering traditional gender roles, and noted that since data provided was not specified by sex, it was difficult to evaluate the state of potential forms of discrimination against girls. She also asked for more information on violence against children and how it had changed over the last few years.
Other members of the Committee then asked such questions as to what programmes existed to inform children about their rights and what they were legally entitled to. How were children involved in the decision-making process in the various Governmental departments, and how were their views gathered and incorporated in the policies evolved. The Committee also addressed the issue of domestic violence, asking for details of the measures taken to redress the situation in the light of the new regulations, which did not seem to have produced the required impact. On the same topic, the practical details of redress for victims of domestic violence were also requested. Details on the adoption process, both domestic and international, were requested, as was information on issues of discrimination such as for children born out of wedlock, children born to displaced women who could not apply for citizenship, and transmission of nationality and religion. Police violence and brutality was also an issue of concern.
Ms. Koursoumba responded to these issues, saying that with regards to the decrease in the birth rate, there was no special reason for this phenomenon. The age of 21 was mentioned in the report as relating to sentencing, and was not an issue of majority or minority. The age of marriage under Cypriot law was that any person over the age of 18 could marry without parental consent. Between 16 and 18, consent was required. Under the age of 16, marriage could only take place if the young woman was found to be pregnant, and the Church consented.
With regard to the opinion of the child in decision making, the delegation said it was enshrined in law that children should be consulted when their future was affected. As for changing attitudes towards gender roles, the introduced laws should contribute towards changing these, although they could not work on their own. Things had changed, as they had when the laws about domestic violence had been implemented, and women had begun to report infractions of the law. The Government had a strategy to increase budget allocations in the areas of education, health, and psychiatric services, and this would be for all on the island of Cyprus, including the children of all communities and areas.
The Cypriot delegation said religious instruction was compulsory for Greek Orthodox students, but other students were not made to attend such classes, and were given instruction in their own denomination. There were only two communities in Cyprus, the Greek Cypriot and the Turkish ones, although there were three religious minorities. Adherents to these minorities as well as people from both communities were guaranteed all civil rights by the Constitution, and their culture was safeguarded by a national policy. The problems between the two communities had always been political, and had not been based on religious discrimination.
Maternity leave was changing in Cyprus, it would become parental leave, so that fathers could also take leave to look after their child. It was expected that this would help contribute towards changing gender attitudes and towards increasing involvement of the father in the life of the child. Discrimination for any cause, race, sex, or religion was forbidden by the Constitution. Similarly, there was no discrimination by gender in education.
For adoption, the best interests of the child were to be taken into consideration by law, the delegation said. This was also the same in the case of domestic violence, where perpetrators could be let go if this was in the best interests of the child. All decisions of the Court should be taken in the best interests of the child, and this was enshrined in law. As for illegitimate children, they were legally treated as any legitimate child. Changes had been made in the law so that a child could take the nationality of its mother.
There were no children under the age of 18 employed as domestic help, the delegation said. With regards to corporal punishment, this was considered an assault, and it was treated as an offence under the ordinary criminal court. A law on refugees had been created in concert with UNHCR, and had been approved by that organization, ensuring that all refugees were treated correctly and without discrimination.
The delegation continued to state that there were inter-communal groups of young people who met and these were the ones paving the way for the reunification of the island. Sexual education was taught in schools under the general heading of health training.
Whenever there was a new law, training of the people who would implement it began. The police was frequently involved in this training.
There were no cases in Cyprus of sexual exploitation or trafficking in children, and there was monitoring to ensure that this remained the case. In the mean time, measures were being prepared to ensure that no incident would remain unreported.
The integrated approach adopted by Cyprus in dealing with domestic violence had proved most effective, since it combined various legal and civil approaches. Due to the increase in public sensitivity to this phenomenon, specific legislation had been adopted in 1994; it had been replaced in 2000 by a law with new provisions. The aim of this law was to remedy all weaknesses in existing legislation, and to provide necessary support to the victims of violence in the family. By increasing the penalties for violence in the family, the law had sent a strong message, thus contributing towards bringing public perception further towards seeing domestic violence as intolerable. The law also recognized the impact of domestic violence on children, stipulating that if the child witnessed violence against another member of the family, this was also an offence against the child, and was punishable by five years in prison.
The increase in the number of reported cases of domestic violence appeared to be linked to the increased awareness of the law, as well as improved capacity for the protection of victims, and the simplified procedure for reporting violations of the law. If domestic violence took place in front of the children, the non-guilty partner was obliged by law to report this violence and to bear witness to it. Recourse was also provided in schools for children to report violence and receive counseling, and preventive education was provided. Lectures were given to parents on the rights of the child, and awareness and prevention courses were also given to many groups, including police and teachers.
The delegation said that a children’s Parliament had been established. Children were elected from schools and met in national meetings quarterly to discuss issues related to health, security and the rights of the child.
The Committee then moved on to the next three topics under consideration, and Ms. Goncalves asked how children with disabilities were integrated, and what was the reaction of society to these children. Information with regard to adolescent health services was also requested. Did schools have the capacity for special programmes and initiatives on dealing with diversity in a multicultural environment, thus ensuring greater understanding, she asked, along with a question relating to psychological services provided to children.
The Committee Experts asked other questions relating to facilities for children who did not speak Greek, how children with special needs were integrated into mainstream education, and trafficking of children since Cyprus appeared to be a transfer center of these children and what measures were being taken to avoid and remedy this situation. There was also skepticism on the figures provided on HIV/AIDS infection, since there did not appear to be any new cases of child and adolescent infection over the last few years. Suggestions were also made on the creation of a specialized juvenile justice system.
Responding, the delegation said that laws and regulations protected children with disabilities. Their integration into both normal and special schools was underway, and figures were being monitored. There were provisions for access to buildings in existing schools, and also a requirement for all new schools and public buildings to have facilities for the disabled. There was also a high profile event, the Special Olympics, that was highly publicized. Efforts were made to involve special needs children in all facets of society.
A new law had been enacted to create a new national healthcare system, which would ensure even greater health coverage for the population as a whole. Among the main projects would be the training of general practitioners, so that the system would be able to function coherently. As for mental health care, care was integrated into the community to such an extent that the main mental health institution would be closing. Statistics on HIV/AIDS appeared to be correct. There were no more known cases, and there was a lot of awareness and training on the topic.
Facilities were provided for children from other cultures to integrate themselves in the Greek community. Discrimination was avoided by training the teachers and children to avoid this pitfall, and to accept different cultures as a means of enriching their own community.
School regulations provided means for all children to be involved in decisions affecting their own future. There was also integrated psychological counseling available, and the number of counselors would be increased over the next few years. There were very few cases of children dropping out of permanent education, and this was not allowed until the age of 15 in any case.
There were no special courts for children, but judges sat for cases involving children with associated special precautions such as privacy. Legal assistance was provided for minors as it was for all those in need. Legal aid would be extended to civil cases, but this was not yet the case.
With regard to allegations that Cyprus was a transit point for trafficking in persons and drugs, the delegation said there was legislation stipulating that this was a severe crime, with considerable penalties. However, there was no trafficking of persons through Cyprus, as every possible measure was taken to prevent this.

Preliminary Closing Remarks
MS. GONCALVES, the Committee Rapporteur on the Report of Cyprus, in concluding remarks, thanked the delegation and admired the commitment of its members to Greek children. The discussion had been most enriching and informative, and the Committee felt that the information provided by the delegation was of high level quality. Many developments had been suggested and there was a window of opportunity for Cyprus to move on and develop children's rights and to use the Convention as a political tool to bring the new concept of the child as a subject to rights to the fore. It was hoped that the commitment of the delegation and of the Government of Greece would translate into laws and procedures that would enhance this process.
MS. KOURSOUMBA, Law Commissioner of Cyprus, thanked the Committee for the experience, and said that the recommendations would be taken back to the Government and acted upon, since there was a common goal, which was the best interest of the child.



* *** *