Τhe UN Refugee Agency says Cyprus should adopt accelerated procedures to review asylum applications, in order to tackle increased refugee and migrant flows. Emilia Strovolidou, a UNHCR Public Information Officer, told CNA that instead of using deterrence, Cyprus should focus on how to manage the problem.
“The most important thing is to review asylum applications the soonest possible, in a just and effective way” Strovolidou said, adding at the same time that a distinction needs to be made between refugees and economic migrants.
According to the data, UNHCR retrieves from press reports, a total of 859 people arrived in Cyprus from January 2020 until today, 340 of which arrived in the past two weeks. Most of them come from African countries, such as Cameroon and Somalia, Strovolidou added.
Speaking about arrivals of people who crossed into the free areas of the Republic of Cyprus through the cease-fire line, Strovolidou said that most of them entered from Athienou region, in Larnaca District, while some passed through the broader Nicosia region, Astromeritis and Kokkinotrimithia villages.
Strovolidou also pointed to official data, showing that in 2019 there were on average 1,000 asylum applications every month. This number is not very different from what is happening today, she added.
The UNHCR Public Information Officer also said that her office assists the Asylum Service in establishing the necessary procedures that will accelerate the review process of asylum applications.
What we suggest is to have a first screening, in order to separate applications into well-founded and ill-founded ones. More complex cases should follow the regular procedure, she added.
She went on to say that an accelerated procedure should be in place, in order to process well-founded and ill-founded cases and noted that a relevant UNHCR policy document has already been submitted to the Cypriot authorities.
An accelerated procedure has already been implemented in the case of Georgian applicants and as a result, asylum applications have been reduced, Stovolidou added.
In any case, she said that all asylum applications need to be reviewed while the Asylum Service is being reinforced with EASO personnel, while another 110 people are expected to staff the Service by the end of 2020.
Reinforcing the Asylum Service and putting in place an accelerated procedure to review applications may bring about the changes the Cyprus government is looking for, Strovolidou said. This way, Nicosia will be able send out a strong message to people who exploit asylum procedures so as to extend their stay in Cyprus, she concluded.
