The modernisation of Family Law is a social necessity
Statement by AKEL MP Aristos Damianou after the meeting of the Parliamentary Legal Affairs Committee
7 September 2022
Unfortunately, the necessary modernisation of family law had been stuck for years in the cogs of dogmatism, but also the positions that the Ministry of Justice had been putting forward for a long time.
The Republic of Cyprus is the only EU member and the only member of the Council of Europe in which the Church is still involved in the issue of civil divorce. We note with satisfaction the fact that in the relaunch of this debate in the Legal Affairs Committee, the current Minister of Justice appeared ready to listen to proposals and concerns that were put forward in the past and which were rejected by her predecessors. We want to believe that in a spirit of cooperation many disagreements can be bridged and if some issues of major importance remain as disagreements, then each political force will take its own decisions.
We call on the government to cooperate with us on family law issues, because this is a social necessity. We are confident that through dialogue many problems can be resolved. At the same time, as AKEL-Left-New Forces, we have submitted throughout these almost seven years of discussions, a multitude of proposals for the modernisation of family law. We are pleased that our proposals coincide and identify with THE proposals submitted by NGO’s and the Pancyprian Bar Association. To the extent that these proposals have not been incorporated into the texts, we will promote them through amendments or through the article by article debate.
We strongly believe that these issues are not suitable for petty-party consumption, but at the same time it must be said that the dogmatism of certain parties, particularly the ruling DISY party, have held us back from promoting a necessary reform. That is why our appeal still stands. We want to believe that society’s needs must prevail and not cling to a past that has been overtaken by society itself.
