Cyprus is suspending the processing of all asylum applications from Syrian citizens as large numbers of refugees arrive in the island nation by boat, mostly from Lebanon, AP News said.
In a written statement, the Cypriot government said the suspension was also partly related to ongoing efforts to get the European Union to re-designate parts of the war-torn country as safe zones to allow repatriation.
Cypriot President Nicos Christodoulides travelled to Lebanon last week to urge authorities to stop boats carrying migrants from leaving their shores as the number of migrants arriving in Cyprus this year is 27 times higher than the same period last year. Earlier, he had personally asked EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen to ask Lebanese authorities to limit the departure of migrant boats.
Some 2,140 people arrived by boat in EU member Cyprus between 1 January and 4 April this year, the vast majority of them Syrian nationals departing from Lebanon, according to statistics from the Cypriot Interior Ministry. By comparison, only 78 arrived last year.
On Monday, Christodoulides and Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati called on the EU to provide financial support to help impoverished Lebanon stop migrants entering Cyprus. The EU should provide “substantial” support to Lebanon, Christodoulides said any financial aid should be linked to how effectively Lebanese authorities control their coastline and prevent boats from leaving.
Lebanon and Cyprus already have a bilateral agreement under which Cypriot authorities would return migrants trying to reach the island from Lebanon. But Cyprus’ Interior Minister, Constantinos Ioannou, said Lebanon was refusing to honour its part of the agreement because of domestic pressure.
Ioannou travelled to Denmark, the Czech Republic and Greece this week to drum up support for EU efforts to declare parts of Syria safe. He said he and his Czech and Danish colleagues are drafting a formal document for the EU executive to begin formal discussions on the idea of a safe zone in Syria.
He also conveyed his Czech counterpart’s agreement to send a joint fact-finding mission to Syria to determine which parts of the country are safe, but UN agencies, human rights groups and Western governments say Syria is not yet safe for repatriation.
Lebanon, which has been in a severe economic crisis since 2019, is hosting some 805,000 UN-registered Syrian refugees, of whom 90 per cent live in poverty, according to the UN refugee agency. Lebanese officials estimate the actual number is much higher, ranging from 1.5 million to 2 million.
