Filenews 14 December 2021 - by Marios Demetriou
A shocking experience had the members of the Commission on Human Rights, who visited yesterday the centre of first reception of asylum seekers "Pournara" in Kokkinotrimithia and the journalists who accompanied them. The centre temporarily houses more than 2,500 people mainly, from African countries and some from war zones of the Middle East, such as Syria and Iraq, in an area intended for 600 people.
The second parliamentary delegation consisted of the President and vice-president of the Committee, MPs of AKEL, Irene Charalambidou and Giorgos Koukoumas and its members, Rita Superman and Dimitris Demetriou (DISY) and Alexandra Attalidou (Movement of Ecologists) who made the visit in the context of the discussion of an ex officio issue on the actions and integration of unaccompanied children from war zones. They were informed by Lora Iakovidou, head of operation of "Pournara", an administrative officer of the Asylum Service that coordinates all the other state services in the area, that the centre currently has 287 unaccompanied children from 15-18 years old with some of whom the MPs talked. Younger children, mostly from Syria, are in the centre with their families. "I will keep the request of unaccompanied boys under the age of 18 that they want to be educated and have a better tomorrow," Ms. Charalambidou said.
"We must," she added, "find ways to integrate these children, make them healthy members of our society — woe betide us leaving them without education, leading them to ghettoisation. In the centre there are refugees even from Afghanistan – we met a family, parents with two young children three and four years old and we have received promises from the Asylum Service that by next week they will move from the centre to have better living conditions. Also, there are young girls here on their own who are in danger of becoming exploited in various networks when they leave Pournara, and we must not allow this."
Some are literally on the road!
The head of operation of "Pournara", Lora Iakovidou, informed the MPs that "since November 2018 the applications of people who enter the Republic illegally pass through "Pournara". First, he said, they are registered outside and then they are quarantined for the coronavirus, they undergo medical tests, and if they are well, they are admitted to the main centre where the vulnerability interview begins and fingerprints are taken. Within the 30 days of their stay, they apply for asylum to the Asylum Service. In response to questions and comments from MPs, Ms. Iakovidou admitted that guests who are in quarantine and live in tents, have a difficult time due to the weather, but said that for families with small children, accommodation is ensured in prefabricated houses. He said the interior ministry has submitted to the Town Planning Department a plan to upgrade the places where people are in quarantine. He added that "we have organic toilets—and showers—but they are not enough in number. Also, there is a strong stench because the sewerage system cannot satisfy such a large number of people and overflows, so the Service calls seven times a day a crew to clean the bathroom facilities. She also said that there is a problem with many foreigners arriving at the centre, but being forced to stay out of it —literally on the street— since there is no space inside the "Pournara". She added that they are the ones who mainly circulate in neighbouring communities, whose presence is being protested by residents.
"A time bomb that will explode"
"In the "Pournara" centre we see in miniature the migration problem we have in Cyprus," DISY MP Rita Superman said in her statement. "Really the conditions are inhumane, no one would want to live in such a situation. The centre is designed for accommodation of about 600 people and almost 3,000 live there, and this number is constantly increasing over time.
Among them are people coming from countries of warfare, but also from countries where there is no warfare and who are victimized by cunning people who give them false promises for a better life and as a result they are "trapped" in these difficult conditions.
There is no possibility to help all these people, no matter how much we want to, and we must pay great attention to prevention and how to stop these flows to our country. Yes, the surrounding communities have a problem. We have been told that there is prostitution on the streets of communities and that in "Pournara" there is also a problem of drug use.
If we don't address the issue, it will turn into a time bomb that will one day explode." In response to questions from journalists, Ms. Superman said that according to the information received by MPs from the competent bodies, most foreigners of "Pournara" come to the free areas from the occupied territories. "Right now," he said, "the centre is dominated by Congolese and Cameroon Africans who come to the occupied territories with student visas and whose goal from the beginning is to cross into the free areas. I will repeat that Cyprus is the cheapest package offered by traffickers to get these people from Africa to Europe. They pay according to the country they come from. Cyprus is the cheapest destination because for some countries in Africa you do not need a visa to go to Turkey and it is very easy to come from Turkey here."
With the rain beating the tents...
"It is not easy to manage such human suffering," Irene Charalambidou said in a statement at the end of the visit. "I am glad," he added, "because the people who serve in Pournara, honestly, mapped out the problems they face, the gaps and shortages that exist and lead to further inconvenience to the residents. I hope that the Home Secretary will respond to the written invitation of the Human Rights Commission to attend a session to discuss migration constructively and how we can improve things. The centre was intended to accept 600 people and currently has a stable population of around 2,500 people. There are tents in quarantines, tonight it will rain, the people here will live in inhumane conditions, in the mud, with the rain beating the tents. Solutions must be found with respect for human dignity. Every person who is here has a tragic story behind him. Even if you are an economic immigrant and a minor, it is not easy to leave your family behind in search of a better tomorrow in a foreign state that may not be ready to offer you what you want."
In response to a relevant question from the signatory, she stressed that "the people who work here often excel themselves, since they face inadequacies and problems of the system. Instead of being consumed in criticising an issue that has to do with human suffering, we should step up their efforts. We have to talk to the Interior Minister, find ways out because this situation cannot continue for anyone." In response to a question about the wandering immigrants in the surrounding communities, she said that "this image of overcrowding should not represent our state, it is a problem for both the residents and the workers here and of course for the residents who are lumped on top of each other. We have seen a room for unaccompanied boys, a box of 12 children sleeping on blankets on the floor. This situation is not acceptable to anyone. In our Commission there is support from all parties, we are a voice and goodwill must be shown by the Interior Minister as well to make the situation more properly managed."
Alexandra Attalidou: Quick examination of applications
According to Alexandra Attalidou "what the Republic of Cyprus can do is to overcome itself for once and manage refugees from countries in war zones such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria much faster. For the asylum applications of others, there should be an individualized examination but quickly in each case. If it is negative, the answer to the applications, then in cooperation with the European Union, they should be returned. That is, people who are not entitled to asylum and burden the system, resulting in injustice to those who are entitled to it, to leave Cyprus quickly through an effective procedure. I believe, that on one hand, that 4 000 asylum seekers from India are burdening the system, and this is proof that our state is not managing the system properly. I believe that the Minister of the Interior, who refuses to talk about immigration, has a huge responsibility and must finally assume his responsibility, namely to implement an effective system. We must, firstly, ask the European Union to manage the cases of those who arrive in the free areas from the occupied territories via Turkey, which is a way of putting pressure on Turkey. Secondly, asylum applications must be processed quickly and promptly and thirdly, they must be re-forwarded to their countries with the help of the European Union.
