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Cyprus Equality Body 2014 Cyprus / Equality Body / Self-initiated intervention of the Anti-discrimination Authority regarding the racial incident against footballer and the combating of racism in sports / Ref. ΑΚR/ΑΥΤ. 4/2014 Race/Ethnicity Migrants The Equality Body condemned the inadequate response of the authorities to repeated incidents of racial abuse by club fans against a black African football player during two consecutive matches. No arrests or prosecutions were made and the authorities had failed to take measures against the perpetrators. Instead, the only person punished was the victim himself, who had been given a yellow card by the referee as a warning prior to suspension from the game for having verbally shown his discontent… View more
Cyprus Anti-discrimination Authority 2016 Cyprus / Anti-discrimination Authority / Public Position of the Anti-discrimination Authority regarding the incident of racist conduct by a member of the police / Ref. 69/2016 Religion, Race/Ethnicity, Nationality Muslims, Migrants The Equality Body published a report condemning an incident at the Menoyia Detention Centre, posted on social media, showing a police woman using extreme and intensely racist, aggressive and Islamophobic expressions insulting the ethnic origin, religion and family of detainees. The detention centre houses migrants awaiting deportation. The video shows other police officers present in the room listening to the racial abuse without any reaction. Pending investigation into the incident by the… View more
Cyprus Radio and Television Authority 2016 Cyprus / Radio and Television Authority / Self-initiated investigation into possible violations by the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (TV Channel RIK 2) / Case No. 80/2016(69) Religion, Race/Ethnicity, Nationality Refugees & asylum seekers, Migrants, Muslims Three independent public bodies, the Equality Body, the Journalistic Ethics Committee and the Radio Television Authority, investigated and condemned the screening by a state TV channel of an interview with Greek singer Sfakianakis that contained racial hatespeech. During the interview, the singer used strong racist language, describing migrants as rapists of his country and arguing they are all rich people colonising Greece as part of a plan orchestrated by Turkey to ‘Islamise’ Greece. The… View more
Cyprus Anti-discrimination authority 2016 Cyprus / Anti-discrimination authority / Report regarding the incident of racist name-calling and its handling by the police/ File no. AKR 121/2012 Race/Ethnicity Migrants The Equality body investigated a complaint about persistent racial abuse against a woman of African origin by neighbours, including racist posts of Facebook, and found that its handling by the police was inappropriate. The victim’s husband had repeatedly complained to the police, who concluded that it was a 'misunderstanding' and outside its jurisdiction. Eventually, the victim and her husband got into a fight with the neighbours, as a result of which they were all charged with… View more
Cyprus District Court of Nicosia (Επαρχιακό Δικαστήριο Λευκωσίας) 2019 Cyprus / District Court of Nicosia/ Case No. 775/2018, Nicosia Police Director v. XXX Merkouri Race/Ethnicity Migrants In 2016 the complainant who is the father of two adopted children from Asia posted the children’s photos on Facebook. The defendant comment on Facebook that the complainant was ‘stupid’ to have adopted children from Asia. The complainant filed a complained to the Commissioner for the rights of the child who, in turn, filed a report to the police. After eight months the police invited the defendant for a statement. She admitted having posted the comments but denied that there was any racist… View more
Cyprus Cyprus Media Complaints Committee (Επιτροπή Δημοσιογραφικής Δεοντολογίας) 2019 Cyprus / Complaint No. 13/26/3/2019 Migrant status Migrants The Cyprus Media Complaints Committee (CMCC) received complaints from five Paphos residents regarding an article published in two internet papers who had published the letter of the president of an association which used derogatory and racist language against groups of persons and contained incitement for reversing a decision of the city’s municipal council through an undemocratic process. The letter published by these sites referred to a citizens’ protest outside the municipal hall when the… View more
Cyprus Media Complaints Commission 2020 Cyprus / Media Complaints Commission, «Απόφαση εναντίον της εφημερίδας 'Αλήθεια' για δημοσίευμα με τίτλο: ‘Τρίτος Αττίλας στην Κύπρο!’, ημ. 27/01/2020» (Decision against the newspaper 'Alithia’ for the article entitled ‘Third Attila in Cyprus!’ of 27/01/2020) Complaint No. 06/27/01/20, 17 May 2020. Race/Ethnicity, Race/Ethnicity, Religion Refugees & asylum seekers The Media Complaints Commission examined a complaint against the national daily newspaper “Alithia” for an article entitled “Third Attila in Cyprus” published in January 2020. The article referred to migrants and refugees whom it resembled with the Turkish invasion of 1974, which had received the code name ‘Operation Attila’ and included phrases like “we are sinking” and “we cannot stand them any more”. It also included false data on the number of asylum seekers, whom it recorded as 43,000… View more
Cyprus Cyprus Media Complaints Commission 2020 Cyprus / Media Complaints Commission, “Complaint against the newspaper ‘Simerini’” (Παράπονο εναντίον της εφημερίδας «Σημερινή»), Complaint No. 08/02/02/20, 17 May 2020. Race/Ethnicity, Race/Ethnicity, Religion Refugees & asylum seekers Τhe Media Complaints Commission examined a complaint against the national daily newspaper ‘Simerini’ for three articles published on 2 February 2020 under the titles: (1) ‘Immigration sinks Cyprus’, (2) ‘Explosion of Immigration’ and (3) ‘Turkish games with refugee flows’. The complaint argued that the article attempts to spread fear and xenophobia with false data about the numbers and unproven allegations about flows directed and manipulated by Turkey. View more
Cyprus Cyprus Media Complaints Commission 2020 Cyprus / Media Complaints Commission, “Complaint against Sigma TV ‘Noon Plus’ on 22 January 2020” (Παράπονο εναντίον του Sigma TV «Μεσημέρι κ κάτι» στις 22 Ιανουαρίου 2020), Complaint No. 07/27/01/20, 17 Μay 2020. Race/Ethnicity, Race/Ethnicity, Religion Refugees & asylum seekers The complaint argued that during a televised interview with the Interior Minister, the interviewing journalist expressed the position that the numbers of migrants are such that Cyprus cannot bear them, which is not grounded on facts and is disputed by experts. In addition to being inaccurate, the statement carried the risk of spreading racism and xenophobia. The complaint added that the journalist failed to react when the Interior Minister said on air that migrants and refugees come to Cyprus… View more
Cyprus Cyprus Media Complaints Commission 2021 Cyprus/Cyprus Media Complaints Commission/ Racist discourse and discrimination, Complaint no. 12/2021, 29 June 2021. Race/Ethnicity Muslims A teacher filed a complaint to the Cyprus Media Complaints Commission against the newspaper 'Alithia' for its front page article on 16.3.21 entitled 'Help us Minister, do as you did in Chloraka'. The article stated that in the village of Droushia the number of Syrian children exceeds that of Cypriot children and called on the Interior Minister to ban the settlement of more migrants in the area. View more
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