Human Rights Law
Human rights are inextricably connected with many aspects of the law, including immigration, employment, ownership, suffrage and political opinion, discrimination, personal and family life and criminal law and procedure. In Cyprus, the Cypriot Constitution (CC), the Universal Declaration of Human Rights under the UN Charter, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, the European Convention on Human Rights and Basic Liberties (ECHR), and other legal documents enshrine the guarantees and safeguards for freedom from illegal prosecution, persecution and depravation of other basic personal and property freedoms. Owing to the participation of Cyprus to the ECHR, recourse to the European Court of Human Rights is a viable choice.
Basic Human Rights
Basic human rights are the following:
- Right to Life and Personal Integrity (Article 7 CC and article 2 ECHR)
- Freedom from torture and degrading treatment (Article 8 CC and article 3 ECHR)
- Right to decent living and social security (Article 9 CC)
- Freedom from slavery or servitude (Article 10 CC and article 4 ECHR)
- Right to liberty and personal security (Article 11 CC and article 5 ECHR)
- Rights of accused persons to fair trial (Articles 12(5) and 30 CC and article 6 ECHR).
- No Punishment without law (Article 12(1) CC and article 7 ECHR)
- Right not to be tried or punished twice (Article 12(2) CC and Protocol 7 article 4 ECHR, ratified by Cyprus)
- Freedom of movement within Cyprus (Article 13 CC Protocol 4, article 2 ECHR)
- Freedom to enter Cyprus and prohibition from exile (Article 14 CC Protocol 4, article 3 ECHR).
- Right for respect of private and family life and correspondence (Articles 15, 16 and 17 CC and article 8 ECHR).
- Freedom of thought conscience and religion (Article 18 CC and article 9 ECHR).
- Freedom of expression (Article 19 CC and article 10 ECHR).
- Right to education (Article 20 CC and Protocol 1 article 2 ECHR, ratified by Cyprus).
- Freedom of assembly and association (Article 21 CC and article 11 ECHR).
- Right to marry and found a family (Article 22 CC and article 12 ECHR)
- Right to property (Article 23 CC and Protocol 1 article 1 ECHR, ratified by Cyprus)
- Obligation to pay taxes (Article 24 CC)
- Right to work in any profession or trade (Article 25 CC)
- Right to peacefully form trade unions and to strike (Articles 26 and 27 CC)
- Prohibition of Discrimination (Article 28 CC and article 14 ECHR and Protocol 12 article 1 ECHR, ratified by Cyprus)
- Right to petition the authorities (Article 29 CC)
- Access to justice the courts and the judicial system (Article 30(1) CC)
- Right to an effective remedy (Article 13 ECHR)
- Right to suffrage and free elections (Article 31 CC and Protocol 1 article 3 ECHR, ratified by Cyprus)
- Abolition of the death penalty (Protocol 6 article 1 and Protocol 13 article 1, ECHR, ratified by Cyprus)
- Right of appeal in criminal cases (Protocol 7 article 2 ECHR, ratified by Cyprus)
- Right of compensation for wrongful conviction (Protocol 7 article 3 ECHR, ratified by Cyprus)
Protection of Human Rights
Common law and the civil law jurisdictions do not share the same constitutional law foundations and therefore the concept of human rights is derived differently:
- The legal systems of common law jurisdictions e.g. the Commonwealth and the USA originate from the legal system of the U.K.. Therefore “Judicial Precedent” is kept as an important and integral part of these legal systems, which means that court rulings of higher courts bind lower courts and are a source of law.
- The legal systems of civil law jurisdictions place great emphasis on statutory law, believing strongly in a separation of powers structure. The judiciary can only interpret the law as it was enacted by the parliament and place less emphasis on judicial review.
As a result, the structure of the judiciary and the judicial process differs significantly between the two systems.
- In common law jurisdictions the Judge is a referee who adjudicates on the law and procedure and the litigants are adversarial during the trial. Common law judicatures consequently separate the judiciary from the prosecution, thereby establishing the courts as completely independent from both the legislature and law enforcement or prosecution. As a result, human rights law in these countries is largely constructed on legal precedent and the court’s interpretation of constitutional law.
- In civil law jurisdictions the Judge is an inquisitor and the litigands are participants in that inquiry. Civil law judicatures have common judiciary and prosecution and establish courts where the procedure is a search for the moral truth rather than based on the ability of the prosecution to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt on strength of the evidence. . As a result, human rights law in these countries almost entirely derives from codified law, constitutional or otherwise.
Especially in the context of a criminal proceeding the safeguards of a fair trial (due process of law) involve protection from procedural breaches of a suspect’s human rights e.g. illegal searches and seizures, illegal arrests or interrogations, illegal monitoring of conversations etc. This means that courts shall not accept evidence tainted with such illegality thus discouraging illegal actions by the authorities from the stage of criminal investigation until the trial of the case when the suspect is accused.
Our Services
In our capacity as your legal representatives, we shall ensure that your rights shall be secured and that the authorities, including the police and the Courts, shall act in accordance with the provisions of the law. We have vast experience in the area o human rights and have filed a lot of applications to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasburg.