National Constitutional provisions – Cyprus

The Constitution of Cyprus 1960.

EDUCATION

Art.18

4. Every person is free and has the right to profess his faith and to manifest his religion or belief, in worship, teaching, (…) either individually or collectively, in private or in public, and to change his religion or belief.

Art.20

1. Every person has the right to receive, and every person or institution has the right to give instruction or education subject to such formalities, conditions or restrictions as are in accordance with the relevant communal law and are necessary only in the interest of (…) the protection of the rights and liberties of others including the right of the parents to secure for their children such education as is in conformity with their religious convictions.

2. Free primary education shall be made available by the Greek and the Turkish Communal Chambers in the respective communal primary schools.

3. Primary education shall be compulsory for all citizens of such school age as may be determined by a relevant communal law.

4. Education, other than primary education, shall be made available by the Greek and Turkish Communal Chambers, in deserving and appropriate cases, on such terms and conditions as may be determined by a relevant communal law.

EQUALITY

Article  28

1. All persons are equal before the law, the administration and justice and are entitled to equal protection thereof and treatment thereby.

2. Every person shall enjoy all the rights and liberties provided for in this Constitution without any direct or indirect discrimination against any person on the ground of his community, race, religion, language, sex, political or other convictions, national or social descent, birth, color, wealth, social class, or on any ground whatsoever, unless there is express provision to the contrary in this Constitution.

3. No citizen shall be entitled to use or enjoy any privilege of any title of nobility or of social distinction within the territorial limits of the Republic.

4. No title or nobility or other social distinction shall be conferred by or recognised in the Republic.

MINORITY GROUPS

Appendix E

Statement by Her Majesty's Government

The Rights of Smaller Religious Groups in Cyprus

In the negotiations leading up to the establishment of the Republic of Cyprus, Her Majesty's Government have been concerned to secure for the minor religious groups in Cyprus (Armenians,

Maronites and Latins) the continued enjoyment of the liberties and status which they have had under British rule. The following paragraphs set out the safeguards which are to this end being provided in the Constitution of the Republic.

2. Under the Constitution, members of these groups will, as individuals, be guaranteed human rights and fundamental freedoms comparable to those set out in the European Convention for the

protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the Protocol thereto. Both as individuals, and as groups, they will also enjoy constitutional protection against discrimination.

3. The Constitution will enable the Armenians, the Maronites and the Latins, as groups, to choose

to belong to either the GreekCypriot or the TurkishCypriot Community. In the event of option, the members of the group will enjoy the same benefits as the other members of the Community.

For example, they will be eligible for the Public Service of the Republic.

4. Any religious group which has opted as a group to belong to one of the two Communities will have the right under the Constitution to be represented in the Communal Chamber of the Community for which it has opted.

5. It will also be possible under the Constitution for any religious group, in common with other bodies, to have recourse as a group to the Supreme Constitutional Court to complain of any breach of the Constitution or abuse of power directly affecting the group as a body.

6. Finally the Constitution will provide for members of the smaller religious groups to enjoy no less extensive rights in respect of religious matters than they enjoyed in law before the Constitution came into force, and matters of personal status will be under the jurisdiction of the religious groups themselves. In respect of education and cultural matters, the Presidentelect and the VicePresidentelect have given an assurance that the smaller religious groups need have no fear that they will be at a disadvantage in future in the allocation of public funds.

CITIZENSHIP

Article 2

For the purposes of this Constitution

(1) the Greek Community comprises all citizens of the Republic who are of Greek origin and whose mother tongue is Greek or who share the Greek cultural traditions or who are members of the GreekOrthodox Church;

(2) the Turkish Community comprises all citizens of the Republic who are of Turkish origin and whose mother tongue is Turkish or who share the Turkish cultural traditions or who are Moslems;

(3) citizens of the Republic who do not come within the provisions of paragraph (1) or (2) of this Article shall, within three months of the date of the coming into operation of this Constitution, opt to belong to either the Greek or the Turkish Community as individuals, but, if they belong to a religious group, shall so opt as a religious group and upon such option they shall be deemed to be members of such Community:

Provided that any citizen of the Republic who belongs to such a religious group may choose not to abide by the option of such group and by a written and signed declaration submitted within one month of the date of such option to the appropriate officer of the Republic and to the Presidents of the Greek and the Turkish Communal Chambers opt to belong to the Community other than that to which such group shall be deemed to belong:

Provided further that if an option of such religious group is not accepted on the ground that its members are below the requisite number any member of such group may within one month of the date of the refusal of acceptance of such option opt in the aforesaid manner as an individual to which Community he would like to belong.

For the purposes of this paragraph a " religious group " means a group of persons ordinarily resident in Cyprus professing the same religion and either belonging to the same rite or being subject to the same jurisdiction thereof the number of whom, on the date of the coming into operation of this Constitution, exceeds one thousand out of which at least five hundred become on such date citizens of the Republic;

(4) a person who becomes a citizen of the Republic at any time after three months of the date of the coming into operation of this Constitution shall exercise the option provided in paragraph (3) of this Article within three months of the date of his so becoming a citizen;

(5) a Greek or a Turkish citizen of the Republic who comes within the provisions of paragraph (1) or (2) of this Article may cease to belong to the Community of which he is a member and belong to the other Community upon

(a) a written and signed declaration by such citizen to the effect that he desires such change,

submitted to the appropriate officer of the Republic and to the Presidents of the Greek and

the Turkish Communal Chambers;

(b) the approval of the Communal Chamber of such other Community;

(6) any individual or any religious group deemed to belong to either the Greek or the Turkish Community under the provisions of paragraph (3) of this Article may cease to belong to such Community and be deemed to belong to the other Community upon

(a) a written and signed declaration by such individual or religious group to the effect that such change is desired, submitted to the appropriate officer of the Republic and to the Presidents of the Greek and the Turkish Communal Chambers;

(b) the approval of the Communal Chamber of such other Community;

(7) (a) a married woman shall belong to the Community to which her husband belongs.

(b) a male or female child under the age of twentyone who is not married shall belong to the Community to which his or her father belongs, or, if the father is unknown and he or she has not been adopted, to the Community to which his or her mother belongs.

LANGUAGE

Article  3

1. The official languages of the Republic are Greek and Turkish.

RELIGION

Article  18

1. Every person has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

2. All religions whose doctrines or rites are not secret are free.

3. All religions are equal before the law. Without prejudice to the competence of the Communal Chambers under this Constitution, no legislative, executive or administrative act of the Republic shall discriminate against any religious institution or religion.

4. Every person is free and has the right to profess his faith and to manifest his religion or belief, in worship, teaching, practice or observance, either individually or collectively, in private or in public, and to change his religion or belief.

5. The use of physical or moral compulsion for the purpose of making a person change or preventing him from changing his religion is prohibited.

6. Freedom to manifest one's religion or belief shall be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary in the interests of the security of the Republic or the constitutional order or the public safety or the public order or the public health or the public morals or for the protection of the rights and liberties guaranteed by this Constitution to any person.

7. Until a person attains the age of sixteen the decision as to the religion to be professed by him shall be taken by the person having the lawful guardianship of such person.

8. No person shall be compelled to pay any tax or duty the proceeds of which are specially allocated in whole or in part for the purposes of a religion other than his own.

HUMAN RIGHTS MECHANISMS

Article  5

The Republic of Cyprus shall secure to everyone within its jurisdiction human rights and fundamental freedoms comparable to those set out in Section I of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms signed at Rome on the 4th of November, 1950, and the Protocol to that Convention signed at Paris on the 20th of March, 1952.