The House labour committee on Tuesday discussed plans to amend the current stipulation that parents accrue five years of residence in Cyprus before being able to claim child benefit, with committee chairman and Akel MP Andreas Kafkalias saying the current state of affairs “excludes parents and children”.

He said after the meeting that parents being ineligible for child benefit “implies exclusion from other benefits related to child benefit, such as tuition fees and other discounts”.

“Akel reiterates that social policies must focus on the child and their needs, not the duration of their stay in the country. The state cannot continue to operate with policies which produce social exclusion and violate children’s basic rights,” he said.

MPs said that if there is no response on the issue from the social welfare deputy ministry, they will write a bill to correct the matter.

“Depending on the government’s reaction, we will consider the possibility of submitting a draft bill in the near future,” Kafkalias said, adding that his aim is to “ensure that all children residing in Cyprus be treated fairly”.

On this matter, independent MP Andreas Apostolou pointed out that the current system constitutes “a great injustice for Cypriots who return from non-European countries and who are deprived of child benefit during their first five years in Cyprus”.

Not everyone in the committee was convinced, however, with Elam MP Sotiris Ioannou expressing “dissatisfaction” that “recipients of the benefit are foreigners and Turkish Cypriots”.

“Elam will submit a bill so that third-country nationals will not receive child benefit, so that child benefit solves the demographic problem and does not subsidise the births of illegal immigrants,” he said.