The Speaker of the Parliament, Annita Dimitriou, expressed on Wednesday the hope that the bill to introduce female genital mutilation as a private crime in the Prevention and Fight against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence would be supported in the Plenary Session.
The bill is expected to be taken to the Plenary for a vote in 15 days.
Answering a question, during an event in Parliament for the International Children's Day, Ms. Dimitriou, who is also the rapporteur of the bill, said that the text was for placement in the competent committee and, after all the different views have been approached, the final text will go to the Plenary where all the parties will be placed.
"I hope and hope that this bill will be supported, it is a very important initiative for a social phenomenon which is now acceptable," added Ms. Dimitriou. In this way, he said, the legislator not only names it but, this fact will count as an additional aggravating factor.
The purpose, he said, is beyond the naming and visibility in this phenomenon, to function preventively, conveying the relevant messages to civil society.
He added that it is no coincidence that this initiative has already been requested by other parliaments in Europe, "and the enactment of the specific crime of genocide is progressing, and in many other parliaments at the same time".
"Cyprus, in these matters, and this is the message, pioneers, leads, perceives and in this way, just as it was done with the criminalization of sexism, proceeds to enshrine this law of the same name through the Law of the Istanbul Convention. "and, yes, the murder of a woman, because she is a woman, constitutes genocide", said Mrs. Dimitriou.
Source: KYPE