Ombudswoman Maria Stylianou Lottides presented three reports on Wednesday to President Nikos Christodoulides, informing him that over 3,000 complaints had been processed by her office in 2024.

The reports on work done by her office, such as eradicating torture and fighting discrimination, were a beacon for the government, the president said.

“The reports submitted are a guide for us to further strengthen our effort to change Cyprus, more so when it is reports on human rights,” he said.

Christodoulides said “we take the reports into serious consideration”, adding that they offered insights into problems, which the government then acted on.

Presenting the reports, Lottides said more than 3,000 complaints had been processed out of the 5,000 pending, of which 2,300 were new ones.

Many complaints, she said, were about local authority interference with private property, without compensating the owners.

Others had to do with allowances for people with disabilities, which Lottides said should be separated from the minimum guaranteed income (EEE).

Christodoulides said changes to allowances for people with disabilities were in the pipeline and indeed would be kept separate from EEE.

He furthermore said the government would be running programmes in 2025 to integrate foreigners residing legally in Cyprus, in line with the country’s European and international obligations.

Lottides said her office also observed EU co-funded projects and since 2023 had looked into 126 programmes and prepared observations.