THE HOUSE yesterday approved more than 50 bills, including the controversial law raising the age of consent for heterosexuals to 17, while a further 31 were withdrawn by the government.
The age of consent for heterosexuals was raised to 17 in an effort to abolish any discrimination between homosexuals and heterosexuals.
The House had initially planned last week to reduce the age of consent for homosexual males to 16 from 18, to bring it into line with legislation on heterosexuals.
But the House Legal Affairs Committee decided instead to raise the age of consent for heterosexuals to 17, to avoid having to reduce the age for homosexuals to 16.
On Wednesday both the state legal service and deputies were unable to say what the implications of raising the legal age of consent for heterosexuals would be, since it would make it illegal for anyone under 17 to have sex.
In essence it means that as from today, anyone having sexual relations with a 16-year-old will be committing a criminal offence.
The compromise law is the result of intense pressure exerted on Cyprus by the European Union to abolish discrimination between homosexuals and heterosexuals.
Homosexuality was only decriminalised in 1998, five years after gay activist Alecos Modinos won his battle at the European Court of Human Rights, which condemned Cyprus over its poor treatment of homosexuals.
The House also approved stiff sentences regarding sexual intercourse with minors yesterday.
According to the new law, any attempt to have sex with a person under 13 is punishable by up to 13 years in jail, while full intercourse can lead to life in prison.
Intercourse with a person aged between 13 and 17 is now punishable by up to three years in jail.
The plenum passed more than 50 other bills out of a total of 108, while 31 were withdrawn by the government.
More than 10 bills were deemed incomplete and were either referred back to the relevant House committees or to the July 25 plenary session, which will be the last before the summer recess.
There will be no plenary session next week, although the House will convene in a special session on Monday, July 15, for its annual condemnation of the 1974 coup and subsequent Turkish invasion.
The final session on July 25 is expected to discuss a plethora of bills concerning EU harmonisation.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
