Right to life

In January, Cypriot police fatally shot Shoaib Khan, a 24-year-old migrant from Pakistan, in the island’s UN buffer zone. In May, civil society expressed serious concerns regarding the authorities’ handling of the case, including an initial assessment of natural death and failure to conduct an independent investigation into police responsibility. An official inquest into the incident started in October.

Freedom of expression, association and assembly

Following a peaceful protest in January over Shoaib Khan’s fatal shooting, six protesters faced charges, including of “insult” for anti-police slogans heard during the protest.

In September, the OSCE highlighted the incompatibility with international human rights law of several provisions of legislation introduced in July to regulate protests.

In January, NGOs called for criminal charges to be dropped against Doros Polykarpou, former executive director of anti-racist NGO Kisa, as they appeared to be unfounded and linked to his human rights work.

In October, the Supreme Constitutional Court annulled a 2020 decision to remove Kisa from the Registry of Associations. At the end of the year, the Court’s decision had not yet been implemented.

Refugees’ and migrants’ rights

A voluntary return scheme for Syrians, launched in June, offered families financial incentives to return to Syria voluntarily, while allowing one family member to stay in Cyprus on a temporary work visa. NGO Cyprus Refugee Council expressed concerns that the scheme did not consider the best interest of the child because it failed to consult children adequately, and that it encouraged families experiencing hardship in Cyprus to be returned to inadequate conditions in Syria.

Reports of unlawful summary returns at sea continued. These involved cases of Syrians being forcibly returned to Syria, where they would be at risk of serious human rights violations.

In July, a group of people stranded in the UN buffer zone for months in 2024 presented a case against Cyprus to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) alleging pushbacks and other violations.

Impunity

In February, the Supreme Court confirmed an inquest’s finding that army conscript Athanasios Nicolaou had been murdered in 2005.

Women’s rights

In February and July, the ECtHR issued rulings where it found that Cyprus failed to effectively investigate two cases concerning rape allegations. In its July ruling, the ECtHR also found that the applicant was exposed to secondary victimization that constituted gender-based discrimination.