Artiste permits down a quarter

THERE was a 23 per cent reduction in working permits issued for artistes during 2007.

The Mediterranean Institute of Gender Studies (MIGS) yesterday submitted the outcome of their survey on sex exploitation and trafficking in Cyprus to the House Gender Equality Committee.

According to the report, even though the Cabinet had decided that women who come to work as dancers in cabarets should not pay their transportation costs, they are made to pay the expenses back in interest after being made to sign a relevant contract on their arrival.

Child Commissioner Leda Koursoumba also underlined insufficiencies in the way theses women’s documents are checked by the state’s authorities, resulting in there being very little control over whether there are underage girls working in cabarets.

The Committee has invited all implicated official bodies to its next sitting in order to evaluate the MIGS report and see what measures can be taken.

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.