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The Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Refugees, Trapped, Missing and Suffering, AKEL MP Nikos Ketteros, noted that he has contacted the Ministry of Finance and a meeting has been arranged for next Thursday, together with the relevant services and the war victims, in order to find a solution to this issue. He said that he has assurances that the issue will be resolved, however he maintains his reservations until that happens, as 47 years have already passed since the invasion.
"It is a shame for this state, 47 years later, that these people who were young, teenagers at the time have reached retirement and still the issue of rehabilitation for themselves and their families has not been resolved," he said at the end of the commission's meeting.
He noted that it is likely that these people are facing a much greater problem today because of their injury than when they were originally injured.
George Groutides, President of the Pancyprian Organization for the Rehabilitation of War Victims and Disabled[/B], spoke of injustice, segregation and exclusion of disabled and suffering people from their rights.
"At last the state must take a stand and focus on our real problems, which are too many and it really baffles us that Cyprus, which was invaded and occupied, does not declare to the EU that it has war victims," he said after the committee meeting.
"I believe that we are being wronged and we demand basic respect. War disabled people need help to survive and that is how the state should see it."
Responding to a reporter's question, Mr. Groutidis said that when he contacted the Ministry of Finance in relation to why they were not included in the prisoners' allowance announced last week, the ministry's response[/B] was that "you are getting an allowance elsewhere and you don't need it."
[BR][/B]"If we are forced to take to the streets, which is very difficult by our standards, many people will be upset," he said.
He added that the Geneva Convention is clear on the treatment of disabled war victims, "so I find it strange that we as a state did not declare victims," he said. If they declare victims to the European Council, he said, they are obliged to make a preferential social policy, clarifying that by "preferential" he meant giving back to the victims the rights they had, which he said were cut off under the pretext of the economic crisis.
He also clarified that there is a differentiation for disabled persons who lost members due to the war, compared to someone who became disabled due to an accident or who was born that way.
He noted that the organization consists of 2,500 people, of which 1,000 to 1,050 are war disabled, he said. He added that among them are women who were abused in the war, people in wheelchairs, people who were amputated.
Other members of the organization noted that there are no specialized post-traumatologist doctors, and not even a single psychologist visited them on how to overcome their problem.
ELAM MP Sotiris Ioannou said that it is a disgrace that the state spends much more on illegal immigrants, but is not available to spend a few thousand to meet the just demands of war invalids, people who stood on the front line for the independence and territorial integrity of the Republic of Cyprus.
Source: KYPE
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