There is no legal basis for excluding a specific nationality from asylum applications, Cyprus Refugee Council coordinator Corina Drousiotou told in-cyprus on Monday.
She was commenting on the government’s decision, announced on Saturday, to suspend the processing of asylum applications, targeting specifically those from Syrian nationals.
“There is no legal basis for excluding a specific nationality. Therefore, the measure being implemented is not valid based on European and international law” Drousiotou said.
She explained that a similar measure was tried during the administration of Nicos Anastasiades, but failed to bring any results.
“This measure was also tried in 2022, during the previous government, and did not bring forward results, as it did not reduce the arrivals of Syrian nationals”, she concluded.
In a Platform X post on Saturday, President Nikos Christodoulides stated that “Due to the mass arrival of Syrian asylum seekers recently via the maritime route, and pending developments regarding the reassessment of Syria’s status, the examination of asylum applications for all individuals of Syrian origin is suspended”.
More than 600 people have arrived in Cyprus on boats from Lebanon since the start of April amid deepening tensions in the Middle East. It has triggered calls from Nicosia to its European Union partners to do more to assist Lebanon, as well as reconsider the status of war-torn Syria, which is at present considered unsafe to repatriate asylum seekers.
In practice, suspending processing of applications means asylum seekers will be confined to two reception camps offering food and shelter and regulated exits, with no other benefit. Those who choose to leave those facilities will automatically forfeit any kind of benefit, and will not be allowed to work, government sources said.
(With information from Reuters)
