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The need to reform family law was discussed on Wednesday, among other issues, members of the Parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs, Justice and Public Order, while the amendment of the Criminal Code to protect the personality of individuals from threatening or defamatory messages on the Internet remains under discussion.
On the issue of family law reform, Committee Chairman and DISY MP Nikos Tornaritis said after the end of the work that he has asked for the bills to be grouped together and the issues raised by the Commissioner for Child Protection, the newly established Deputy Ministry of Social Welfare and the Pancyprian Bar Association to be specified, the Commissioner for Legislation and other bodies and to come revised within three weeks before the Commission for immediate processing, since, as he stressed, "the issue concerns people and the souls of people, it concerns children and we obviously cannot continue to play in any way with children and their problems."
Responding to a question from reporters on when he estimated that the reform could be presented to the plenary, Tornaritis pledged that "as soon as the government sends a revised text it will immediately go to the committee for discussion and straight to the plenary for a vote because I told you that these very bills that are directly related to our children cannot be put on the back burner".
Tornaritis also referred to the ongoing discussions on amending the penal code "so that we strengthen it in relation to threatening messages or messages that expose personalities, threaten or ridicule in any case personalities or people, either through social networks or by sending messages." As he said, this is already applied in most European Union countries, adding that "we will adopt severe penalties for those who lightly send an intimidating message to someone or a message that is placed in a situation of affairs that creates a frightening concern for the recipient."
Statements on the issue of the revision of family law were also made by AKEL MP Andreas Pasiourtides, who said that "family law in Cyprus, as you know, is from the 1990s, so we all agree that it needs reform and modernisation", adding that "modernisation does not mean that in 2022 the divorce procedure in a civil court will depend on the positions or participation of the Church".
In addition, Mr. Pasiourtidis described the issues concerning the interests of the child and relations between parents as very important, noting that "we will study issues raised by the various stakeholders with a view to bringing the bills to the plenary for a vote because family law has passed in its current form and should be modernized as soon as possible."
Finally, statements were also made by EDEK MP Kostis Efstathiou, who said that "the aim of the revision of the family law is the quick resolution of issues that mainly concern children and the family institution", stressing that "we cannot tolerate three, four and five-year procedures for issues that could be resolved immediately".
Regarding the amendment to the Criminal Code under discussion, Efstathiou said that "the protection of the reputation of each individual is desirable, but it cannot cause a series of interventions in the right to freedom of expression", adding that "every single person is entitled to express himself in a decent framework, however disturbing his expression may be for public figures."
Source: CNA
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