Filenews 21 March 2024
A reversal of last year's picture with migratory flows is observed this year, since the majority of irregular migrants came to the free areas by sea, which also shows the change of tactics by smugglers.
The massive "invasion" of irregular migrants that Cyprus received last week, with the arrival of a total of 458 people, shows the new way of action of the networks located in Lebanon and promoting persons to Cyprus and other countries of Europe. According to data provided to "F" by the deputy commander of the Aliens and Migration Service of the Police, Petros Zeniou, so far this year a total of 2,469 irregular migrants have arrived in the free areas, of which 1,627 by sea and the remaining 842 through occupied areas.
The picture was completely different last year in the first two and a half months. Specifically, a total of 2,369 irregular migrants had arrived in Cyprus, of which 2,292 through the occupied areas and only 77 by sea with four boats. Of the 77, 15 were minors. This year the minors who came to our country amount to 431, a very important number for migration data.
According to these data, smugglers send migrants who want to leave Lebanon by boat to Cyprus avoiding the route through Turkey-occupied territories that is more costly and multi-day. The most worrying thing for the authorities is that the information coming from Lebanon is that the arrivals of irregular migrants, mainly from Syria, will continue in view of the call of the leader of Hizbollah a few days ago, to flood Europe with refugees from Syria.
However, the sea route poses mortal risks for migrants seeking a second home, since we are already counting the case of 6-year-old Saif who died on the boat carrying him with his family, while three other migrants who jumped from a boat are missing. In the past, we remind you that the traces of a boat with 84 migrants that left Lebanon for Cyprus and Since then, no one knows what happened to so many people.
Efforts by Lebanon to stem boat movements leaving the neighboring country's shores appear to be unsuccessful, not least because of the war in Gaza. Cypriot authorities say they cannot afford any more flows, since the Pournara First Reception Centre in Kokkinotrimithia, while it had 500-600 people, suddenly filled in just 24 hours with the arrival of 468 Syrians last week. The efforts of Foreign Minister Konstantinos Kombos, who rushed to Lebanon for contacts, do not seem to have borne fruit due to the situation in the Gaza Strip.
The problem with the arrival of Syrians in Cyprus intensified last year, as data show, since in previous years migration flows from African countries were increased. A cursory analysis of the data shows that last year 70% of the irregular migrants who arrived on our island were Syrians, while the year before, Syrians made up 23% of those who came irregularly.
More specifically, of the 10,994 total migrant arrivals last year, 6,420 were Syrians and in second place were persons arriving from Nigeria (990 and constituted 11% of all arrivals).
In 2022, once again, people from Syria were in the first place of the countries with the most arrivals, only their percentage stood at 23% and not the 70% that skyrocketed last year.
