The Institution of the Commissioner of Administration is supportive and complementary to the State's efforts to build a society based on justice, equality and respect for diversity and the rights of all citizens at all levels and in all contexts, President Anastasiades said on Thursday evening, addressing an anniversary event marking 30 years since the establishment of the Institution.
The President of the Republic stressed that it is an independent institution and that any attempts to intervene, fortunately due to the resistance of the Commissioner, have managed to be prevented "so that some people realise that there are frameworks within which everyone should operate".
"An independent institution concerned with the protection, safeguarding and promotion of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all persons residing in the Republic of Cyprus without exception," he added.
President Anastasiades referred to a series of actions aimed at substantially supporting and strengthening the efforts of the Commissioner, including ensuring the uninterrupted provision of sufficient financial resources to the institution and, on the basis of the budget prepared each year by the Commissioner himself, strengthening the human resources of the Commissioner's Office.
Furthermore, following an amendment in 2020 to the relevant legal framework concerning the Commissioner's competence to act as the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture, the possibility for the Commissioner to conduct free and unannounced visits to any place or places of detention of his choice is formally provided for.
In addition, he said, by decision of the Council of Ministers in 2021, the Office of the Office of the Commissioner of Administration will be recruited on the basis of special examinations administered by the Commissioner himself, and in 2022, the House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill to amend the Commissioner of Administration Act of 1991 so that the term of office of each Commissioner may now be renewed only once.
He also said that in order to further strengthen the independence of the person appointed to the post of Commissioner, by a decision of the Council of Ministers in 2022, the appointment of the Commissioner by the President of the Republic should be subject to the approval of a majority of the House of Representatives.
Also by another decision, the Commissioner is empowered to establish a Human Rights Advisory Committee in which various human rights and civil society organisations will participate.
"As a result of these actions and the efforts made over the past five years, both by the State and the Office of the Commissioner, the relevant UN Sub-Commission has reassessed the institution of the Commissioner and accredited it as a National Human Rights Authority with A status, recognizing that the institution is fully in line with the Paris Principles and is excellently performing the task it has undertaken," he said.
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