A/HRC/16/21
explanation as to the reasons why it should have at its disposal additional documents in
order to be able to assess this issue36.
25.
In the case of Orams v. Apostolides37 the Court of Appeal of England and Wales in
its final judgment of 19 January 201038 concurred with the ruling of the European Court of
Justice in favour of Greek Cypriot Meletis Apostolides. The European Court of Justice on
28 April 2009 concluded that the judgment of the District Court of Nicosia deciding a claim
over property in the north is enforceable despite the fact that it concerns an area over which
the Government does not exercise effective control39. In relation to the above case, the
European Court of Human Rights on 10 June 2010 declared inadmissible the application in
the case of Orams v. Cyprus40.
26.
The situation in Varosha remains unchanged and the United Nations holds the
Government of Turkey responsible for the status quo, states the latest Secretary-General’s
report on the United Nations operation in Cyprus41.
D.
Discrimination
27.
There were up to 201,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the area under the
control of the Government of Cyprus in 2009, which made Cyprus the country with the
highest proportion of IDPs as a percentage of its population (up to 22.3 per cent). Unlike
children whose fathers have displaced person status, the children of women with this status
are still not entitled to a refugee identity card. They are given a certificate by descent which
does not enable them to access any benefits deriving from a refugee identity card, such as
housing assistance42. In order to rectify the situation, the Parliament of the Republic of
Cyprus in June 2010 passed amendments to the Registry Laws and to the Law Providing
Housing Assistance to Displaced and other Persons. President Christofias found the
amendments, due to their implications on the State budget, unconstitutional and referred
them back to the Parliament. The decision now lies with the Supreme Court, which on 11
October 2010 reserved its judgment as to the constitutionality of the amendments43.
28.
In March 2010, the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the
Protection of National Minorities of the Council of Europe (CoE AC) noted the new steps
taken by the Government of Cyprus to create more favourable conditions for effective
participation of the Turkish Cypriots living in the south in the social, economic and cultural
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
8
Council of Europe Committee of Ministers’ Deputies Decisions adopted at the 1078th meeting, 2-4
March 2010, on Cyprus v. Turkey.
In 2004 the District Court of Nicosia (civil action, no. 9968/04) ruled in favour of Mr. Apostolides
claiming ownership of the land bought by the Orams in the north of Cyprus in 2002. The District
Court ordered immediate demolition of the villa and other constructions which the Orams had erected
on the land, for the land to be returned to Apostolides for his free possession and it also required the
Orams to refrain form continuing the unlawful intervention on the land.
Case No: A2/2006/2114; [2010] EWCA Civ 9, http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2010/9.rtf.
Official Journal of the European Union, C 153/7, http://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2009:153:0007:0008:EN:PDF.
Orams v. Cyprus Decision (27841/07), 10 June 2010. The Court rejected various complaints under
article 6(1) (right to a fair trial) as being manifestly ill-founded. Regarding complaints under article
13 (right to an effective remedy), the Court found that no separate issue arises under this article. The
complaints under article 14 (prohibition of discrimination in enjoyment of Convention rights) were
found out of time by the Court.
S/2010/605, para. 7.
Internal Displacement: Global Overview of Trends and Developments in 2009, Internal Displacement
Monitoring Centre of the Norwegian Refugee Council, May 2010, p. 58.
“Supreme Court reserves judgement on status of refugee mothers”, 12 October 2010,
http://www.cyprus-mail.com/
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