Republic of Cyprus Second Voluntary National Report - Sustainable development goals

106 NARRATIVE Cyprus continues to engage in peace talks and negotiations, under the auspices of the UN, to end the continuing, since 1974, illegal military occupation of 37% of its territory by Turkey, in an effort to safeguard peace and security for all its citizens. At the internal level, a serious Reform is being promoted to build effective, accountable judicial institutions as well as modern and effective public and local authorities. Cyprus also makes considerable efforts towards combatting crime, especially crime related to child abuse, human trafficking, discrimination, and corruption since an upward trend has been observed. To this end, a comprehensive Anti-corruption Strategy along with the necessary legislation has been prepared, which also foresees the establishment of an Independent Authority against Corruption. ANALYSIS Cyprus stands just below the EU average in the various indicators on peace, justice, and trust in institutions. Regarding the peace and personal security measures, Cyprus holds the 15 th position among EU members on the standardised death rate due to homicide with 1 homicide per 100,000 persons (the EU average is 0.7 homicides per 100,000 persons). Interestingly, there is a substantial difference on the aforementioned indicator between men and women. In particular, in 2017, in Cyprus, the number of homicides committed against men (per 100,000 persons) was 1.9, whereas those committed against women was 0.2 (per 100,000 persons). Furthermore, Cyprus holds the 19th position among EU members in the percentage of population reporting the occurrence of crime, violence, or vandalism in their neighbourhood with 12.7% relative to 11% in the EU (see Figure 35). Cyprus is the EU member state with the lowest Government expenditure on law courts. Specifically, in 2019 the Government of Cyprus allocated €40 per inhabitant on expenditure on law courts, almost half the amount spent in the EU (€96.5 per inhabitant). However, it must be noted that a positive trend is observed especially from 2014 onwards, which will increase even more with the promoted reform. Moreover, despite the low spending of the Government on law courts, 10% of Cypriots believe that the independence of the courts and the judges in the country is very good and 49% that it is fairly good (the EU average is 10% and 45% respectively). Finally, Cyprus falls around the middle of EU countries regarding trust in institutions. The country is 16 th on the Corruption Perception Index with a value of 58, relative to 65.7 for the EU (see Figure 36). Regarding confidence in EU institutions, 64%, of Cypriots are confident with the European Parliament, ranking 10th among EU 1.0 0.7 12.7 11.0 10.0 10.5 11.0 11.5 12.0 12.5 13.0 0.0 0.3 0.6 0.9 1.2 Cyprus EU % of population number per 100.000 persons Standardised Death Rate Due to Homicide Population Reporting Occurrence of Crime, Violence or Vandalism in their Area Figure 35.: Peace and Personal Security 64.0 53.0 43.0 54.0 47.0 44.0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 European Parliament European Commission European Central Bank % of population Cyprus EU Figure 36.: Corruption Perceptions Index 66.0 63.0 63.0 61.0 55.0 57.0 59.0 58.0 48 50 52 54 56 58 60 62 64 66 68 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Figure 37.: Population with Confidence in EU Institutions