Filenews 8 October 2024
Cyprus has violated the European Convention on Human Rights in relation to Syrian citizens intercepted by Cypriot authorities at sea and immediately returned to Lebanon without having their asylum applications examined, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found in a ruling on Tuesday.
The judgment concerns the case of M.A. and Z.R. v. Cyprus (application no. 39090/20) and the interception of a vessel off the coast of Cyprus. As stated in the ruling, Cypriot authorities immediately returned the two Syrians to Lebanon, where they had already spent four years in a refugee camp as they had fled war-torn Syria due to the destruction of their homes.
The applicants told the court that they were asylum seekers, and that they had indicated that they wished to seek asylum in Cyprus, while Cypriot authorities treated them as economic migrants.
In a unanimous judgment, the ECtHR ruled that by returning the two Syrians to Lebanon, Cyprus violated Article 3 of the ECHR (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment), Article 4 of Protocol No. 4 (prohibition of collective expulsion of aliens), 13 (right to an effective remedy) and, due to the treatment of the applicants by the Cypriot authorities, violation of Article 3 of the European Convention.
According to the ECHR, the Cypriot authorities effectively returned the two individuals to Lebanon without processing their asylum applications, and without taking all the steps required under refugee law.
It was evident from the observations submitted by the Cypriot Government that the national authorities had not made any assessment of the risk posed by the lack of access to an effective asylum procedure in Lebanon, or an assessment of the living conditions of asylum seekers in the neighbouring country.
The Cypriot authorities had neither assessed the risk of refoulement (the forced return of refugees to a country where they may be persecuted), nor had they examined the specific situation of the individuals concerned.
Cousins M.A. and Z.R. are Syrian citizens born in 1983 in Idlib, Syria. They say they fled Idlib in 2016 because of the war, targeting civilians and destroying their homes. In Lebanon, they were living in camps run by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). According to their testimony, they had no access to health care or the prospect of finding work, and were worried that authorities would return them to Syria.
After the explosion in Beirut in August 2020, the two paid US$2,500 each to a smuggler to take them to Cyprus, and departed in early September on a boat carrying about 30 Syrians and Lebanese, including unaccompanied minors.
The testimonies of the two differ from the information submitted by the Cypriot government, the court notes. In particular, M.A. and Z.R. report that their vessel was intercepted in the territorial waters of the Republic of Cyprus by the coast guard or – according to the Government – by the port and maritime police.
Although the ship was not allowed to continue its course, they were given food, and an interpreter present told them that they would not be allowed to enter. The applicants told the interpreter that they wished to apply for asylum, explaining that they were Syrians. Their explanations were ignored, as the interpreter stated that there was a new law in Cyprus under which refugees were not allowed to disembark, and the authorities took their IDs.
On the evening of 7 September 2020, the Court received a request from the applicants' current lawyer requesting that they not be allowed to return to Lebanon, as there they would be at risk of being returned to Syria, and that applicants enter Cyprus to seek asylum. The next morning the court replied that it needed more information about their identity, but by the time the lawyer answered, the applicants had boarded a ship that had already left Cyprus. The following day, the Government argued that the applicants had entered the territorial waters of Cyprus without authorisation and had not applied for international protection.
The two Syrians say they were deceived on September 8 that they would be brought ashore but were instead forced to board another boat carrying police and other migrants to be returned to Lebanon. Upon arrival in Lebanon, they were handed over to Lebanese police, who arrested and interrogated them before letting them go.
M.A. and Z.R. are still in Lebanon, where they are both registered with UNHCR. Their residence permits have expired, but they have not been able to renew them as their documents have been withheld by the Lebanese authorities. They also don't have a sponsor (like an employer or college) and don't have the means to pay for their renewal.
Relying on Articles 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment), 5 (right to liberty and security) and 13 (right to an effective remedy) of the Convention and Article 4 of Protocol No. 4 (prohibition of collective expulsion of aliens) of the Convention, the applicants complained that the Cypriot authorities refused to grant them access to an asylum procedure and returned them to Lebanon as part of a collective measure without examining their asylum applications or individual circumstances. They also complained that they did not have access to an effective domestic remedy.
The appeal was filed with the European Court of Human Rights on 7 September 2020.
The Court ruled that Cyprus must pay €22,000 for each applicant for non-pecuniary damage and €4,700 jointly for costs and expenses.
CNA
