EXAMINATION OF REPORT OF CYPRUS COMPLETED BY COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS

AFTERNOON
HR/ESC/98/30
19 November 1998




Government Delegation Questioned on Cultural Efforts to Bridge
Gap with Occupied Territory; Anti-Drug Programmes; Sexual Equality


The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights concluded this afternoon its review of a third periodic report of Cyprus, with a Government delegation telling the group that efforts to build cultural bridges with the Turkish-occupied third of the country had not met with cooperation from the other side.

Conclusions and recommendations on the Cypriot report will be issued towards the end of the Committee's fall session on 4 December.

Committee members had asked if any cultural ties were being considered with Turkish-occupied Cyprus as a way of opening the door to some future "understanding" between the two communities, but Cypriot officials said overtures made by the Government had been rejected -- that a formal offer to the occupied area to take part in a Cypriot team negotiating participation in the European Union had been turned down and that even an offer by the Government to help fight a serious forest fire had been declined.

Also raised by the Committee were reports of overcrowding in the country's lone psychiatric hospital -- the delegation said the problem had been eased by the shifting of many patients to out-patient programmes -- and drug trafficking and abuse. Government officials said drug problems had increased in number but still were at a low level and that extensive education was offered to help students avoid drug use. Similarly, they said in response to questions, efforts were being made to promote full equality between the sexes. Committee members had mentioned that Cypriot society had a patriarchal tradition.

As one of 137 States parties to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Cyprus must provide periodic reports to the Committee on efforts to put the treaty into effect.

Members of the Cypriot delegation were Petros Eftychiou, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Cyprus to the United Nations Office at Geneva; Eleni Loizidou, Counsel of the Republic of Cyprus; Loulla Theodorou, Director of Social and Welfare Services of the Ministry of Labour and Social Issues; and Tryphon Pneumaticos, Chief Education Officer of the Department of Higher and Tertiary Education.

Speaking at the meeting were Committee members Eibe Reidel; Javier Wimer Zambrano; Mahmoud Samir Ahmed; Maria de los Angeles Jimenez Butragueno; Virginia Bonoan-Dandan; Ade Adekuoye; Oscar Ceville; Jaime Marchan Romero; and Walid M. Sa’di.

The Committee will reconvene at 10 a.m. on Friday, 20 November, to take up an initial report from Switzerland.

Discussion

Questions and answers fell under the general headings of the Covenant dealing with living standards; health; education; and cultural life.

Committee members asked, among other things, if laws and practice amounted to a total bar on forced eviction; if there was any local production of prohibited substances, which illegal drugs were the most widely consumed, and which illegal drugs were imported or exported; if elderly with no psychiatric problems were housed with other elderly who did not have such problems, and if that was appropriate; who decided which special-care centres children and other patients were placed in, and if in the case of children the consent of the parents was required; if the country's mental hospital was overcrowded and patient treatment substandard, as reports indicated; and if the minimum wage should be raised for shop assistants, since it was admitted it was not enough to ensure an acceptable standard of living.

Other questions asked concerned whether or not there were primary and secondary schools in which study was carried out in certain second languages, such as Armenian and Turkish; how the schools dealt with the Turkish conflict and if the schools taught the idea of an eventual reconciliation; what was being done to teach the Turkish language to the Turkish minority of 2 per cent; what kind of cultural relations were being established with Greece; if any cultural ties were being considered with Turkish Cyprus as a way of opening the door to some future understanding between the two communities; if there was equality between the sexes in the country, especially given the traditionally patriarchal character of the society, and if equality between the sexes was taught in the schools; and what was being done to remedy a shortage of teachers in primary schools.

ELENI LOIZIDOU, Counsel of the Republic of Cyprus, said, among other things, that after the Turkish invasion in 1974, rent-control legislation was enacted making it very difficult to evict tenants; if someone of limited means was in fact evicted, the State helped to pay for a new place to live for some time and also made sure public assistance was provided; and that refugees had the same right as all others to the services of the public-health system.

PETROS EFTYCHIOU, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Cyprus to the United Nations Office at Geneva, said, among other things, that problems with drugs and AIDS, although not at a level found in many countries, were faced squarely; there were education programmes offered in schools and in addition other widespread efforts to teach students through age 23 how to avoid risks associated with drugs and such diseases; that Cyprus was indeed in the middle of an area known for providing drugs to Europe and other places and that it was true that problems related to drugs had grown in recent years; that there had been cases of production of cannabis in Cyprus discovered by the police and prosecuted in court -- in most cases the amounts involved indicated the drugs were for personal use rather than for sale or profit-making; that importation of drugs was indeed a concern, since four times Cyprus's population came every year for tourism; and that some had been found bringing drugs into the country and in most cases foreigners had claimed the drugs were intended for personal use, but larger shipments also had been discovered, especially at ships stopping at port in Cyprus on their way to other destinations.

Mr. Eftychiou said he hoped the term "Turkish Cyprus" had been used inadvertently by the Committee, since the Security Council had said such a term was improper -- what was being referred to was Turkish-occupied Cyprus; that at independence in 1960, the areas of education and religion were left to the communities by expressed agreement; that now the two formerly intermingled communities were separated by an army; that the Government did not prohibit travel throughout Cyprus but that the Turkish army formed a practical barrier; that contacts between the two communities hence were limited by the occupying army; that the occupiers had announced last year that they were halting all intercommunal activities, and so that made attempts to bridge the gap almost impossible for the Government; that still some third-party programmes went on; that at this point more cultural interchange went on with Greece than with the Turkish-occupied area of the island; that many Cypriots went to university in Greece; that the small Turkish Cypriot community living in the Government-controlled area had benefited from Government compliance with United Nations recommendations on relations with that community; that efforts were made to promote reconciliation with the occupied territory, but unfortunately results were lacking; that officials in the occupied region had refused an offer to participate in Cypriot negotiations leading to participation in the European Union, for example, and had even refused aid offered at the time of a vast forest fire; and that private schools for religious minorities were supported by the State to allow minority students to attend them if they wished.

TRYPHON PNEUMATICOS, Chief Education Officer of the Department of Higher and Tertiary Education, Cyprus, said that children with special needs were integrated into the school systems where possible, while children with severe needs attended special schools kept in close contact with regular schools; there were schools for moderately mentally handicapped, the deaf, the blind, and for those with behavioural problems, along with schools to meet other needs; that there were few cases where parents disagreed with official recommendations on which school children with special needs should attend, but if they occurred the parents' wishes were taken into account; that counselling of students from early childhood to avoid problems with drug abuse remained the main State effort to deal with such matters; that drug abuse was not a large problem but the Government tried hard to eliminate it; that production of illegal drugs in Cyprus was very limited; and that a shortage of primary-school teachers had been alleviated through further training of teachers and importation of some teachers from abroad.

LOULLA THEODOROU, Director of Social and Welfare Services of the Ministry of Labour and Social Issues, Cyprus, said, among other things, that communities now were encouraged to establish specialized units in community homes and at day-care centres for those who had psychiatric problems so that difficulties would not occur related to other residents of such facilities; that the situation of overcrowding in the psychiatric hospital had changed enormously because large numbers of in-patients had been reintroduced into the community through the efforts of social workers and out-patient programmes; and that a study was under way on what salary was required for a "dignified" standard of living and that it was expected that the minimum wage would be raised once the findings were in.