CYPRUS: National Laws

Summary: General overview of Cyprus' national legal provisions on children's rights, including guidance on how to conduct further research.

National laws on children's rights

Status of the CRC in national law
Article 169(3) of the Constitution of Cyprus provides that ratified treaties and conventions, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child, have superior force to national law. As such, courts should be able to directly enforce the CRC, although it is unclear whether the Convention has been invoked without the relevant provision having been first incorporated into national legislation.

Constitution: The Constitution of Cyprus contains a number of rights provisions that apply without reference to age, but also a limited number that apply specifically to children:

• Art. 2(7)(b): provides that a child under the age of twenty-one who is not married shall belong to the Community to which his or her father belongs, or to the Community that his or her mother belongs if the father is unknown and he or she has not been adopted
• Art. 18(7): provides that until the age of sixteen, the decision as to the religion professed by a child shall be taken by his or her lawful guardian
• Art. 20(1): includes the right of parents to secure education for their children in conformity with their religious convictions within the permissible limits on the right to receive or give instruction or education
• Art. 20(3): makes primary education compulsory for all citizens of school age

Legislation: The Children's Law covers much of the law related to children, but is not comprehensive. Laws of particular relevance to children can be found throughout a number of legsilative acts, codes and regulations including, but by no means limited to:

• The Children's Law (Cap. 352)
• The Criminal Code
• The Protection of Young Persons at Work Law (L.48(I)/2001)
• The Protection of Children of Sentenced Women or Women Suspects Law (L.33(I)/2005)
• The Law on the Rehabilitation of Convicted Persons (L.70/1981)
• The Combating of Trafficking and Exploitation of Human Beings and the Protection of Victims Law (L.8(I)/2007)
• The Violence in the Family (Prevention and Protection of Victims) Laws (L.119(I)2000) and (L.212(I)/2004)
• The Adoption Law (L.19(I)/95)
• The Refugee Law (L.112(I)/2007)
• The Training and Education of Children with Special Needs Law (L.113(I)/99)
• The Commissioner for the Protection of Children's Rights Law (L.74(I)/2007)
• The Safety at Work (Protection of Youth) Regulations 2012

Legal Research
The Cypriot House of Representatives (Vouli ton Antiprosopon) maintains an official website (http://www.parliament.cy/www_START/index.asp) with limited information in English and some legal resources in Greek, and an English translation of the Constitution is available on the Government's official website (http://www.cyprus.gov.cy/portal/portal.nsf/All/C44572D7363776ACC2256EBD004F3BB3?OpenDocument). The CyLaw website offers a database of Cypriot law in Greek (http://www.cylaw.org/nomoi/), while the International Labour Organisation's NATLEX database (http://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex_browse.country?p_lang=en&p_country=CYP) and the World Law Guide (http://www.lexadin.nl/wlg/legis/nofr/eur/lxwecyp.htm) provide access to a selection of Cypriot legislation in English. In addition, the World Legal Information Institute (http://www.worldlii.org/cy/) and the U.S. Law Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/law/help/guide/nations/cyprus.php) have assembled a selection of legal and governmental resources.

Case Law
CRC Jurisprudence
Please contact CRIN if you are aware of any cases in national courts that reference the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Case Law Research
The Supreme Court also publishes its decisions in Greek (http://www.supremecourt.gov.cy/judicial/sc.nsf/DMLresentJud_gr/DMLresentJud_gr?OpenDocument) and offers limited case law materials in English (http://www.supremecourt.gov.cy/judicial/sc.nsf/DMLresentJud_en/DMLresentJud_en?OpenDocument).  The CyLaw website also maintains a database of Supreme Court decisions in Greek (http://www.cylaw.org/list_files.html).

Compliance with the CRC
The Committee on the Rights of the Child noted progress in a number of area of Cypriot law in its 2012 Concluding Observations. However, the Committee expressed concern at the slow pace of reform in certain aspects of the law, noting in particular the fact that the Law for Welfare, Care and Protection of Children remained in draft form, and urged the State to expedite the reform process.

In depth analysis:
Several specific areas of Cypriot law also emerged from the Committee's 2012 Concluding Observations as incompatible with the Convention on the Rights of the Child. While welcoming the fact that the State had raised the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 14, the Committee expressed concern that children aged between 14 and 18 could be tried as adults, and that even where they were tried as juveniles, the juvenile justice system lacked appropriate provisions to meet the standards set by the Convention. The Committee urged the State to adopt a holistic approach to juvenile justice, including developing juvenile courts; introducing alternative measures to detention, including diversion, probation, counselling and community sentences; and ensuring that children are never tried as adults.

The Committee also considered that several aspects of Cypriot law on asylum-seekers, refugees and internally displaced persons were incompatible with the Convention. The Refugee Law contained “serious ambiguity on the interpretation and implementation of the provisions … relating to the representation of unaccompanied and separated children in the asylum process.”  Furthermore, the Law designated children awaiting adjudication of their asylum claims as illegal immigrants, limiting their rights to access welfare assistance and health care. Specialised medical care was also denied to refugee and asylum-seeking children, even where permanent disability was a foreseeable risk of this denial. The Committee urged the State to further amend its Refugee Law so as to bring it into conformity with international standards, ensuring among other things that children subject to the asylum and refugee process are provided with legal representation and granted the same right to access health care as nationals.

The Children Law of 1956 also contained provisions that allowed for parents, teachers or any other person “having the lawful control or charge of the child” to “administer punishment to him”. The Committee urged the State to repeal this provision and to ensure that legislation explicitly prohibits all forms of corporal punishment in all settings.

Current legal reform projects
A new Law for the Welfare, Care and Protection of Children had been drafted as of June 2012, but had yet to be implemented. As of August 2012, Cyprus was also in the process of drafting a Law on the Treatment of Juvenile Offenders, which will apply to all children under the age of 18.