The huge number of immigrants and political refugees seeking safety and taking refuge in European shores in the Mediterranean creates anxiety and social unrest in Europe, said Cypriot MP Roula Mavronicola, addressing the 10th annual General Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM), which the Parliament of Albania is hosting.
According to an official announcement, the migration crisis in the region and its ramifications were the subject of an extensive debate which began yesterday and concluded today.
The Cyprus House is represented at PAM by MPs Nikos Tornaritis, Georgios Georgiou, Angelos Votsis and Roula Mavronicola.
In her speech, Mavronicola stressed the need to implement a single international policy to address the migration problem.
Cyprus, said Mavronicola, having had a bitter experience of the violent uprooting as a result of the Turkish military invasion of 1974 and the occupation of its northern part, always shows great sensitivity to issues of displaced and supports in every possible way the populations suffering from the same problems.
She compared today`s refugee experiences with the painful memories of fear, anxiety and uncertainty, experienced by her and thousands of other Greek Cypriots in 1974.
The Cypriot MP stressed that the refugee problem is a humanitarian issue and Parliamentarians have an obligation to promote legislation to implement policies to ensure the physical protection of refugees and their fundamental rights.
The inhabitants of the Greek island of Lesvos were honored, during the Assembly, with the special prize of PAM 2016 for the solidarity they have shown to the refugees arriving on the island
