The issue of the inscription of father's and mother's names on civil identity cards in relation to the stigmatisation of fatherless children or children of single women, was discussed at a meeting of the Parliamentary Human Rights Committee on Monday and, as stated by the Chairperson on 6 June, the Minister of Interior and all stakeholders will be summoned before the Committee on 6 June to provide further explanations.
The Committee Chairwoman Irini Charalambidou said after the session that the issue had been perpetuated since 2012 when the Commissioner for Children's Rights had raised the issue of marginalisation and stigmatisation of a doubly vulnerable group such as fatherless children or children of single women.
Charalambidou said that according to the official reply sent to the Commissioner by the Ministry of Interior, the 26 member states of the European Union do not record these data and called on the authorities to explain why the continuation of such a practice is considered necessary in Cyprus.
"The reasons we heard were not satisfactory. I have the impression that in the age of information technology, where everything is computerised, where accessibility to information with an identity card number is a given, the justification we heard today for not changing the design of civil identity cards does not exist," he noted, adding that the Ministry of Interior had taken responsibility to inform the Parliament about the new design and the cost of the identity cards.
"We have not received any study and no information. Therefore, on June 6, the Interior Minister and all stakeholders at the highest level, including the Police, which has proposed identification in the case of a multi-user name, will be invited to explain how the issue of identification using the ID card number arises," he added.
Asked about a possible risk of loss of family roots in case of non-inclusion of parents' details on identity cards, Ms. Charalambidou replied that the other EU countries do not have a problem of tracing the roots or cohesion of families by not indicating the name of parents, adding that the committee raised the question of whether it is possible to use two types of ID cards, with or without indicating the names of parents, for which she expects an answer from the Minister of Interior and the Director General of the Ministry, she reiterated, at the June 6 meeting.
DISY MP Savia Orphanidou said that the details listed on political ID cards may not serve the purpose for which they were included at the time the issue was decided, while at the same time it creates a big problem for a portion of children, who are stigmatised, marginalised and discriminated against.
"As DISY we stand for any effort to eliminate all discrimination against children and for any effort to defend the human rights of every child," he said.
"We have raised some questions to the competent ministry, such as why there is a need to include the father's and mother's details on identity cards, where this need comes from, who decides on these issues and whether there will be an option in the future for those who do not wish to be included on identity cards."
Ms. Orphanidou added that the digitization of the Department of Records and Population, and the creation of a digitized file which will include all data will solve many of the problems that existed in previous decades in order to be able to properly carry out checks on the entry and exit of children from the Republic, as well as police checks. "We are in favour of having safeguards, but we are also in favour of any effort to ensure that these discriminations are not created against children who have neither a mother nor a father, and sometimes not even a mother," he added.
DIKO MP Pavlos Mylonas said that there are various problems related to the formal side of the issue and the Interior Ministry, as well as the relations between citizens and state services, adding that women who choose other procedures to become mothers have clear rights, but the right of choice cannot be guaranteed by imposing on the vast majority the non-inscription of the father's or mother's name.
"In a world in the context of globalisation, which treats people as an accounting number and an economic tool there should also be continuity and people should know where they are born, where they come from and where they are going, it is the root, identity and family that matters, without meaning that someone without a father or mother does not have the right to have an identity or a sense of family," he said.
"We should give continuity to something that existed and exists in a place that is losing its identity," he said, adding that it is a matter of self-evident presence of the figure of the father and mother within a family, where it cannot exist or it is a choice not to exist it is respected, but it is the right of each person to choose whether the name of the father or mother will appear on his or her identity card or anywhere else.
The MP of the Movement of Ecologists Alexandra Attalidou said that the relationship between citizen and state should first serve the citizen, ensuring his human rights, while the relationship that the state wants through identity is control, that is to be able to control and identify citizens, adding that there are many ways today with the available technology for the state to know the exact details of citizens without necessarily having to include the names of the father and mother in the political identity card.
"For us, the protection of human rights and dignity of citizens, especially children, is paramount. That is why we finally expect the Ministry of Interior to explain why it has not replied to the Commissioner for Children's Rights, why it has proceeded with the implementation of the new identity card system when it had previously committed to do so and nothing has changed. We believe that in the next session we should have these answers as to why Cyprus is different from the other 26 EU states, asking for the additional details to be written on the identity card, so that we as MPs can take a stand."
Source: CNA
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