The Speaker of the House of Representatives Ms Anita Demetriou had a meeting today with the European Commissioner for Equality Ms Helena Dalli in the context of her participation in the pan-European Forum "IDAHOT + Forum 2022" taking place in Limassol.
During the meeting, issues related to gender equality, respect for diversity, the importance of women's participation in decision-making processes were discussed, as well as the need for the exchange of best practices and the promotion of modern legislation on these issues, so that society becomes more aware of them. The European Commissioner praised the importance of the promotion of women and young people to political office, as is the case with the Cyprus House of Representatives, since, she said, this is how modern concepts are disseminated in society, in order to then adopt new legislation that guarantees more rights in relation to equality and diversity. He suggested that she continue to exchange views with the President of Parliament on these issues.
For her part, the Speaker, after stressing that Cyprus, apart from ratifying the Istanbul Convention on the fight against violence against women, had been a pioneer in the criminalisation of sexism, referred to the expected institutionalisation of her legislative initiative on the criminalisation of femicide, as well as the expected submission to Parliament of the bill on the legal recognition of gender identity, which should be dealt with in a positive spirit. Ms Demetriou stressed that society has expectations from Parliament and that, for this very reason, there is much more that can be done in the direction of a more effective guarantee of the relevant rights. The most important thing, however, Ms Demetriou stressed, beyond the institutionalisation of these rights, is their full implementation in practice.
The President of the Parliament assured the European Commissioner that the Parliament's contacts with the European Commission in relation to equality and human rights issues will continue.
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