The Cyprus Children’s Parliament was set up in 2001.  It was a development of the traditional event of CHILDREN’S WEEK, during which a group of children occupied symbolically the seats of the members of our Parliament.  With the support of the President of our Parliament it was decided that the symbolic event should develop into a formal session in imitation of the normal sessions of Parliament and under his own Chairmanship.  The next step was to set up the Children’s Parliament as a standing body, in operation throughout the year and not only as an event of Children’s Week.  In the following three years the PCCPWC (Pancyprian Coordinating Committee for the Protection and Welfare of Children) trained volunteer “coordinators”  who worked with the children at district and central level to create the new permanent institution of the Cyprus Children’s Parliament. The work of the district groups and plenary sessions of our children “parliamentarians” was usually related to the theme of the annual CHILDREN’S WEEK in which they participated actively. In parallel they worked on their first “statute”, which was passed unanimously in the Plenary Working Session of September 2004. It was called “The Regulation of the Cyprus Children’s Parliament” and consists of 16 articles. The main body of the preamble to The Regulation runs as follows:

“Guided by the certainty that in a democratic country all citizens must participate in all procedures and implementing the principle of non-discrimination [on the basis of age or any other], and

Because the movement for the defense of children’s rights , PCCPWC  , considers of capital importance the participation of children themselves in the process of   identification of problems and the introduction of  measures for implementing the Convention for the Rights of the Child, and

Because in pursuit of this objective the children always participated in the activities of the Committees for the Protection and Welfare of Children since their establishment in 1981, and

Because the PCCPWC and the children decided  that the Cyprus Children’s Parliament should  function throughout the year as a  permanent institution  with the basic aim of the active, collective participation of children in decision making which concerns them  using  all the legal means and procedures at their disposal,

The Cyprus Children’s Parliament is established and the following regulations are approved”.

In accordance with “The Regulation” the Children’s Parliament consists of 80 voting members: 56 Greek-Cypriots and 24 Turkish-Cypriots and 3 Observers: 1 Maronite-Cypriot, 1 Latin-Cypriot and 1 Armenian-Cypriot representing the three constitutionally recognized Cypriot minorities. Members are distributed to the five Districts of the Republic in the same analogy as the Republic’s House of Representatives. Their term of office is two years and they are elected by District electoral assemblies which consist of delegates nominated by the Pupil’s Councils of secondary schools and of non-school delegates (up to 10%) who apply for membership.  The Parliament elects its President, Rectors and Secretaries and appoints Special Commissions.   The Parliament is convened in Plenary Working Sessions every two months and in an annual celebration session, under the chairmanship of the President of the Republic’s House of Representatives, during the CHILDREN’S WEEK in November.  The Regulation provides for the operation of five District Parliamentary Groups which elect their own officers and convene monthly in preparation for the plenary sessions.  It also includes articles relating to the rights and obligations of members, the agenda, minutes, records, queries and proposals. Finally article 16 of “The Regulation” details the role of   PCCPWC as the support body with rights and obligations concerning the proper operation and development of the new institution.