Plenary session 6 April 2023
Dear colleagues,
The right to health is a fundamental human right: everyone should have access to health services when and where they need them. This sums up the theme of World Health Day for the year 2023: "Health for All". This year's anniversary coincides with the 75th birthday of the World Health Organization, which was founded on 7 April 1948.
30% of the world's population does not have access to basic health services, while nearly two billion people bear miserable health costs, with those living in vulnerable environments facing inhumane inequalities. Pandemic, humanitarian and climate crises, economic constraints and wars make the need for universal and equitable access to health services more urgent than ever.
Universal health coverage is a political and social imperative: it provides economic protection and access to quality essential services, prevents poverty, promotes the well-being of families and communities, and protects against public health crises. Investing in strong health systems is therefore vital for a prosperous society and a necessary condition for the enjoyment of all rights by all.
As the House of Representatives, we join the struggle of global and European organizations to ensure universal access to health and we pledge that we will make every effort to support and strengthen the general health system in order to provide equitable and dignified health services to all citizens of Cyprus, but also to promote life in Cyprus. We are reminded of this by the European Patients' Rights Day, which was established by the International Network of Active Citizens in cooperation with patient organisations and civil society organisations to be celebrated every year on 18 April.
The involvement of organised patients in health matters, both in matters relating to public hospitals and medicines, their participation, as equal partners of the state, in public consultation and decision-making is not only a legally guaranteed and morally required right of patients; it contributes to the design of patient-centred policies and the improvement of health services. Strengthening the role of patients in the planning and implementation of public health ensures patients' rights to prevention, information and quality standards, as reflected in the European Charter of Patients' Rights.
As the House of Representatives, we will continue to support the work of the Federation of Cyprus Patients' Associations, the statutory institutional partner of the state on health issues, as well as other associations and organisations, whose contribution is long-standing, necessary and important. At the same time, we are committed to continue our efforts to develop health policies with a focus on the patient and the vulnerable groups of the population; focusing primarily and indiscriminately on the individual.
Dear Colleagues,
April 24 is commemorated as the Day of Remembrance of the Genocide of the Armenian Nation, beginning with the mass massacres and persecution of the Armenians of Istanbul in 1915. In the throes of World War I, the violent Turkification of the ethnic and religious minorities of the Ottoman Empire by the Young Turk movement escalated, leading to the mass extermination of one and a half million Armenians and the uprooting of hundreds of thousands more from their ancestral homes, ending centuries of history in which they had excelled in the works of civilization and peace.
In 1965, the young Republic of Cyprus, through the then Foreign Minister, later President of the Republic and Speaker of the Parliament Spyros Kyprianou, raised the issue of recognition of the Armenian genocide in the UN General Assembly, It was then the first European country to recognize this heinous crime as genocide, while the House of Representatives adopted a resolution establishing April 24 as the National Day of Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide. The preservation of the memory of this tragic anniversary is a top priority for the Cypriot Parliament and a minimum tribute to the proud Armenian people, recognizing the long-standing contribution of thousands of our Armenian compatriots to the political, economic, social and cultural life of the country. Given further the political ethnic cleansing policy of the Turkish state in the occupied areas of Cyprus since 1974 and onwards, as well as Turkey's escalating provocativeness towards the rights of the Republic of Cyprus and the wider Eastern Mediterranean region, the House of Representatives unequivocally condemns the violations of the human rights of the Greek Cypriots, interned persons and refugees who have been forcibly expelled from their homes and stands in favour of respect for international law and against any act of total or partial elimination of an ethnic, racial or religious group.
In conclusion, I invite you to observe a minute's silence in memory of the victims.
(Text as sent by the House of Representatives)
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