Filenews 18 March 2021 - byAndreas Pibisis
The risk that the Republic of Cyprus will be referred to international bodies for human rights violations is visible. Dunya Miyatovic's letter to Nikos Nouris also records the serious problem Cyprus has to deal with because of its policies on irregular migrants and asylum seekers.
The letter from the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights to the Minister of the Interior was sent on 10 March and specific violations are recorded and it is requested that the Cypriot authorities allow independent investigations into the issue of irregular migrants. Dunya Miyatovic in her letter says she has received a number of "reports showing that boats carrying migrants, including people in need of international protection, were prevented from disembarking in Cyprus, and were summarily forced to return back, without giving passengers the right to access asylum procedures".
D.J. Is going to have to go back Miyatovic warns N. Nouris that "people at the border are forced to go back without sufficient process or identification" member states (council of Europe) are not in a position to know whether "these individuals are being sent back to their persecutors and human rights violators".
According to the Commissioner "this may lead to violations of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Un Protocol 4 on ECHR", actions "which cannot be accepted".
It calls on the Cypriot authorities to allow "independent and effective investigations into suspicions of pushbacks and other abuses by the security authorities in the context of these actions".
In her letter, Dunya Miyatovic records other points and reiterates suggestions that the Cypriot authorities should comply. The recommendations include measures to tackle overcrowding in migrant reception areas.
In a reply letter dated 16 March 2021, the Minister of the Interior refers, inter alia, to a series of events that had occurred in the past and the actions of the authorities of the Republic. The issue referred to by the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights concerns the coercion of boats with irregular migrants coming from Lebanon.
According to the letter from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, these are incidents that occurred at the beginning of September 2020 and involved 10 boats that had sailed from Lebanon towards Cyprus. According to N. Nouris, the Cypriot authorities contacted the Lebanese authorities and it was agreed that 6 out of 10 boats with Lebanese citizens would return to their country. It notes that in these cases Cyprus moved in accordance with EU principles and international law, stating that the Cypriot authorities did not return entry with Lebanese migrants who had not requested international protection. It also states that these individuals returned safely to Lebanon. Of the 347 people on board, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs says, 24 disembarked as they had applied for international protection.
In his reply, Nikos Nouris also refers to the other issues raised previously by the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights.
