A new political dispute has emerged over the removal of parents’ names from Cypriot identity cards, with ALMA MP Eirini Charalambidou warning that the issue could lead to the discrimination and stigmatisation of children.
Charalambidou also accused unnamed political forces of attempting to appeal simultaneously to far-right, conservative and progressive voters.
Concerns over discrimination
Her comments followed calls from political parties for citizens to be given the option of including their father’s and mother’s names on their identity cards, despite the Interior Ministry’s decision to remove the two fields.
In a social media post, Charalambidou said that “some want to keep a foot in several boats” and collect votes from different sections of the electorate.
“They want to gather votes from the far right, conservatives and progressives at the same time,” she said.
Charalambidou argued that allowing citizens to choose whether parental information appears on official documents could create distinctions between individuals and expose some children to unwanted attention.
“Today, children are born through sperm donors, while some may not even know who their father is,” she said, describing these circumstances as part of modern social reality.
Call for children’s commissioner to intervene
The ALMA MP said such matters should not be used for “bullying or political expediency” and called on the Commissioner for the Protection of Children’s Rights to publicly address the issue.
The Interior Ministry said earlier on Wednesday that the commissioner had intervened on the matter in 2012, raising concerns about the possible discrimination, marginalisation and stigmatisation of children whose father was unknown or who were born to single mothers.
According to the ministry, the concern related specifically to the use of a dash in place of the father’s name on identity documents.
Previous parliamentary discussions
The ministry said the matter was subsequently discussed by the House Human Rights Committee during meetings held in both 2020 and 2022.
The latest disagreement follows criticism of the decision to remove the two parental information fields, as well as calls for the government to reconsider the change.
