A/HRC/19/22 13. The Committee of Ministers’ Deputies of the Council of Europe, which supervises the execution of judgements of the European Court of Human Rights, examined the case of Cyprus v. Turkey16 at its 1128th meeting, held from 29 November to 2 December 2011. With regard to the question of missing persons, the Deputies “renewed with insistence their calls on the Turkish authorities to ensure the CMP’s access to all relevant information and places without impeding the confidentiality essential to the carrying-out of its mandate, to inform the Committee of the measures envisaged in the continuity of the CMP’s work with a view to the effective investigations required by the judgment and to provide responses to the questions posed by the Committee”. 17 Furthermore, the Committee of Ministers’ Deputies deeply regretted the refusal of Turkey to participate in the discussions, called on the defendant State to fully cooperate with the Committee and decided to take up this question again at its 1136th meeting in March 2012.18 B. Non-discrimination 14. According to article 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, all are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. 19 Furthermore, all are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and against any incitement to such discrimination. 15. Cyprus is still considered to have the highest proportion of internally displaced persons in terms of the percentage of its population (up to 23 per cent).20 In the area under the control of the Government of Cyprus, there were up to 208,000 of internally displaced persons at the end of 2010, including 83,000 people born to men with displaced status. Unlike children whose fathers have displaced person status, the children of women with the same status do not receive a refugee identity card but instead are given a certificate by descent. While the Parliament of Cyprus had in June 2010 adopted amendments to the Registry Laws and to the Law Providing Housing Assistance to Displaced and Other Persons with a view to granting the same status to children of refugee mothers as those of refugee fathers, the Supreme Court of Cyprus decided, on 1 February 2011, that these amendments were unconstitutional since they violated article 80, paragraph 2, of the Constitution, which provides that no bill relating to an increase in budgetary expenditure could be introduced by any member of Parliament. 21 However, on 5 October 2011, the Government of Cyprus approved the proposal of the Ministry of the Interior to introduce support measures for children of refugee mothers, and the Parliament adopted a law thereon on 17 November 2011. Consequently, children of refugee mothers would be entitled to lowinterest housing loans and to rental subsidies in the case of college students. 16 17 18 19 20 21 In its judgement on Cyprus v. Turkey (25781/94) of 10 May 2001, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights held that Turkey was responsible for 14 violations of the European Convention on Human Rights, grouped by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe into four categories: (1) the question of missing persons; (2) the living conditions of Greek Cypriots in northern Cyprus; (3) the rights of Turkish Cypriots living in northern Cyprus; and (4) the question of the homes and property of displaced persons. Council of Europe Committee of Ministers’ Deputies, decisions adopted at the 1128th meeting, 29 November-2 December 2011 (CM/Del/Dec(2011)1128) on the case of Cyprus v. Turkey (application no. 25781/94). Ibid. See also article 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. “Internal Displacement: Global Overview of Trends and Developments in 2010”, Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre of the Norwegian Refugee Council, May 2011, pp. 58 and 63. Supreme Court of Cyprus, reference no. 2/2010 and no. 3/2010, judgement of 1 February 2011. 7