Cyprus condemned for ‘violent’ treatment of asylum seekers by the Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights
GHRTV1
The Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights released a letter to the interior minister of Cyprus stating that there have been reports of boats of asylum seekers, which “have been prevented from disembarking in Cyprus, and summarily returned, sometimes violently”. The Council called the pushbacks of persons who may require international protection illegal and called for further investigation. For some years, Cyprus has been struggling to deal with an increasing refugee flow. The interior ministry released a statement informing that asylum seekers accounted for 4% of the country’s population while other European in all other member states it is around 1%, pointing at the disproportionate burden carried by the southern European frontline nations. Human rights watchdogs call for European leaders to step up and accommodate asylum seekers from the overcrowded and under-resourced camps on the islands to the mainland.
Sources: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/18/watchdog-criticises-cyprus-treatment-asylum-seekers (same as the picture)
