Cyprus ranks last among EU member-states as regards the accessibility of the justice system for children and its suitability to their needs, according to the European Commission’s EU Justice Scoreboard 2020 reported by philenews.
For example, Cyprus does not provide child-friendly information on proceedings nor does it undertake measures to prevent the child from having to go through several hearings.
The Ministry of Justice acknowledged this failure, taking to Twitter to note that “it is necessary to pass the relevant bill by September, otherwise Cyprus will be subject to penalties from the EU.”
Απουσία φιλικής προς τα παιδιά Δικαιοσύνης. Αναγκαία η ψήφιση του σχετικού νομοσχεδίου μέχρι τον Σεπτέμβριο, διαφορετικά η Κύπρος θα υποστεί κυρώσεις από την Ε.Ε#επείγειημεταρρύθμιση pic.twitter.com/KByhCo0UcI
— Υπουργείο Δικαιοσύνης και Δημοσίας Τάξεως (@MinJusticeCY) July 13, 2020
The report also found that Cyprus took the longest to resolve civil, commercial, administrative and other cases compared to other EU countries in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
The Justice Ministry addressed this point via Twitter by stressing the urgency of passing the relevant bill for Justice reform, which it anticipates will take place this month.
Στοιχεία από την έκθεση του Ευρωπαίου Επιτρόπου για τη Δικαιοσύνη. Αρνητικές πρωτιές για την απονομή δικαιοσύνης στην Κύπρο. Ευελπιστώ ότι εντός του μηνός θα ψηφιστούν οι νομοθεσίες για τη μεταρρύθμιση της Δικαιοσύνης.#μεταρρύθμισητωρα#επείγειημεταρρύθμιση pic.twitter.com/QuY1O1lfHz
— Υπουργείο Δικαιοσύνης και Δημοσίας Τάξεως (@MinJusticeCY) July 13, 2020
According to the same report, Cyprus interestingly has the second-highest number of lawyers per 100,000 inhabitants in the EU, which has been progressively increasing since 2012.
Overall, the EU Justice Scoreboard for 2020 shows a continuous improvement in the effectiveness of Justice systems in the majority of member-states. However, it was pointed out that there are still weaknesses that hold back citizens from fully trusting the Justice systems of all member-states.
The EU Justice Scoreboard is an annual comparative information tool. Its purpose is to assist the EU and Member States to improve the effectiveness of their national justice systems by providing objective, reliable and comparable data on a number of indicators relevant for the assessment of the efficiency, quality and independence of justice systems in all Member States.
