A declaration on digital rights before parliament’s Human Rights Committee would give citizens the right to challenge decisions made by artificial intelligence, strengthen protection for children online and require the government to draw up a national action plan within 12 months.
The 45-article declaration, which the committee discussed on Monday and will examine again in two weeks, aims to protect citizens from risks linked to AI, digital surveillance, the use of personal data and online platforms.
Committee chairman Christos Christofides called it a historic day for the House of Representatives. He said the declaration is a political and institutional commitment by parliament and a fundamental roadmap. However, it does not replace the Constitution, EU and international law or existing legislation, and does not in itself create new penalties or independent legal claims. “Its strength will be judged by its implementation,” he said.
Once adopted, the declaration calls on the government to submit to parliament a map of the legal and institutional framework within six months. Within 12 months, it must submit a National Action Plan with a package of specific measures.
The declaration also provides for:
- a public register of high-impact systems;
- impact assessments;
- conditions in public contracts;
- coordination between the relevant authorities;
- annual public reporting to parliament;
- a review every three years.
Christofides said parliament must monitor progress, scrutinise the government and pass the necessary legislation, and could also table law proposals to fill gaps.
Rights and protections
Under the declaration, citizens could ask for human intervention and a meaningful review by a competent person with sufficient authority to change an automated decision of major importance and impact. Critical medical and administrative decisions should not rest solely on automated systems without a legal basis and adequate safeguards.
For children, it provides for stronger protection of personal data and measures against addictive platform design. Children would be effectively protected from cyberbullying, grooming, sextortion, the non-consensual sharing of personal material, sexual or other exploitation, and child sexual abuse material, including realistic or synthetic material produced with AI.
Synthetic content would be labelled, misleading material quickly removed or restricted, and victims of digital impersonation given redress, with safeguards for news reporting and satire.
The use of spyware, communications interception, geolocation and biometric surveillance would be subject to strict conditions of legality, proportionality and independent oversight.
Public authorities would collect only the data they need, avoid asking again for data they can lawfully and safely obtain, and give full reasons for any decision affecting rights. They would also promote high-quality open data and keep an accessible central register of algorithms.
At work, the declaration provides for protection of rest time outside agreed working hours, and human oversight of hiring, assessment, pay and dismissal decisions made by algorithmic systems.
Platform users would get a timely, free complaints mechanism, human oversight, impartial review and, where provided, access to certified out-of-court dispute resolution. When an account is closed, users could reasonably recover their data and content, unless this conflicts with a lawful and necessary ban.
Political advertising would have to disclose funding, targeting and the use of automated accounts or synthetic content. The declaration also opens an institutional dialogue on whether and how digital rights could be written explicitly into the Constitution, without prejudging the form or content.
Broader than the European declaration
Aristoteles Constantinides, a University of Cyprus professor and chairman of the Management Board of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), said the Cypriot declaration is broader than the European one. He praised it as excellent, citing the human alternative as a right, the public register of algorithms and what he called the exceptionally important article 41 on impact assessments. He said the provision for a national action plan was also very important.
Yianna Danidou, a professor in the Department of Communication and Internet Studies at the Cyprus University of Technology (CUT), welcomed the declaration. “A child can have a digital footprint before even starting to speak,” she said, also referring to child influencers.
Harris Xinari, a professor at the European University Cyprus, said it was very important that the declaration provides for an action plan and for an observatory to be set up.
Education Minister Athena Michaelidou said the priority is children, their protection and their all-round development. She stressed the value of multiple literacies, including digital and algorithmic literacy, as well as academic integrity, critical thinking and the need to strengthen digital skills.
