Equality Body report on racist attack against migrants
In January 2009 the Equality Body investigated the handling by the police of a racist attack against migrants in the rural village of Ypsonas by a group of youth. The perpetrators were not charged with offences involving racial motive. The Police Department for the Combating of Discrimination (PDCD) does not have any mechanism in place to record racial incidents; only a small number of racial offences were recorded none of which led to any conviction. The police admitted that no special training is offered to its officers on the identification and recording of racial motive but expressed the view that the change of mentality within the police body will come gradually through experience and not through training. The police also claimed that in the particular case there did not seem to be prima facie racist violence, a view which was criticised by the Equality Body, which noted that the incident, which was manifestly racist, was not an isolated one; it added that although the legislative framework appears to be adequate, the authorities and particularly the police stubbornly refuse to identify and prosecute racial incidents. The report notes with concern that in this case the victims did not file a complaint with the police, adding that the underreporting phenomenon shows a general failure of the existing system to record the real picture of racism in Cyprus.
