Cyprus to migrants: “The route is no longer open”

The sea journey from the Lebanese coast to Cyprus – the closest EU member state – takes just ten hours on motorboats used by smugglers. The distance from Larnaca is approximately 112 nautical miles. Lebanon is the country with the highest refugee density per capita in the world and is home to around 2 million Syrians and 200,000 Palestinians.

Currently, Cyprus’ refugee camps in Pournara and Kofinou are almost empty. But just five months ago, Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides declared a migration crisis, saying that “migrant flows are uncontrollable.”

Cyprus is following a series of strict and in many cases legally controversial measures that have drastically reduced flows. But they have also brought it into conflict with humanitarian organizations, the UNHCR and the United Nations peacekeeping force on the island (UNFICYP).

The migration issue remains one of the hottest topics on the Cyprus political agenda. The far-right ELAM party is steadily climbing up in polls and many analysts point out that without TikToker Phidias’ surge last year it would have done even better in June’s European elections.

Earlier this month, Cyprus was condemned by the European Court of Human Rights for pushbacks by the Cyprus Coast Guard. Meanwhile, incidents of racist violence are on the rise, with the latest victims being food delivery workers who were brutally beaten a year after racist pogroms in Chloraka and Limassol.

“Cyprus has always had migrants, we have learned to live with them. The problem arose when the numbers increased enormously and created a negative perception in Cypriot society,” said Deputy Minister of Migration and International Protection Nicholas Ioannides.

The “Message”

Lebanon and Cyprus signed a bilateral agreement back in 2020 under which migrants attempting to reach the island would be “intercepted” and sent back. However, due to the military escalation on the Lebanese-Israeli border following the Hamas attack, Beirut authorities were less focused on stemming the flow of refugees.

The result was that last spring, as the weather improved, boats carrying hundreds of asylum seekers, mostly Syrian men, arrived on the shores of Cyprus.

Cyprus has unilaterally announced the suspension of the processing of asylum applications for Syrian nationals, without specifying a time frame for the duration of the extraordinary measure.

For the Deputy Minister of Migration, the observed decrease in migratory flows is the result of a combination of measures: “patrols, cooperation with Lebanon and, in general, the message that the Republic of Cyprus sends to traffickers that the route to Cyprus is no longer open.” All this has a deterrent effect.”

The Cypriot president visited Beirut in May together with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, when a financial package worth one billion euros for Lebanon until 2027 was announced and cooperation with Lebanese authorities to prevent illegal migration was called for. However, international organizations openly accuse the Cypriot authorities of illegal returns, a charge the government denies.

“In reality, it is difficult to figure out what exactly contributed to the decline in flows,” said political analyst Christophoros Christophorou. Certainly, as he notes, the suspension of the processing of asylum applications from Syrians, which amounted to over 26,000, played a large part in this, but also the introduction of practical measures in coast guard patrols, which, according to international organizations, were also taken outside the location territorial waters of Cyprus.

In a report published in September, Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused Lebanon and Cyprus of “working together” to prevent Syrian refugees from reaching Europe and then forcibly deporting them back to Syria at risk. “I reject the allegations,” said the deputy migration minister, “cooperation with Lebanon is not about sending people to Syria, but about controlling its coast.”

“And in any case, we have seen tens of thousands of Syrians leave Lebanon and voluntarily return to Syria. There are several areas in Syria where hostilities are not taking place. However, we will not send anyone back until there is an agreement with the UNHCR and the EU and we all agree that they can return.”

Earlier this month, the European Court of Human Rights condemned Cyprus for violating international law, ruling that the Cyprus Coast Guard had sent two Syrian nationals back to Lebanon (pushback) after they entered Cypriot territorial waters to seek asylum.

“The expected condemnation of our country for ‘pushbacks’ undoubtedly has a negative impact on its image,” says Dr. Aphrodite Papachristodoulou, academic at the University of Galway and lawyer bilateral agreements with other countries.

The Republic of Cyprus is among countries urging the EU to reclassify Syria’s status and designate safe areas to allow asylum claims to be rejected and applicants to potentially be repatriated.

However, earlier this month the EU court, in a ruling binding on all member states, rejected any consideration of dividing a third country into “safe” and “non-safe” areas, thereby enforcing a pan-European legal barrier to efforts to seek asylum to send back to Syria.

Flows from the buffer zone

Another influx of migration flows to Cyprus comes from the occupied territories via the Green Line. Cypriot authorities have previously denounced “universities” in the northern part of the island, citing cases of third-country nationals who came to the occupied territories on “student visas” and almost simultaneously went to the free areas where they sought asylum in the Republic of Cyprus.

In recent months, the confrontation between the UN peacekeeping force and Cyprus has intensified as the Cypriot authorities detain migrants seeking asylum in Cyprus in the buffer zone. UNFYCIP and UNHCR have repeatedly called on the Cypriot authorities to ensure unhindered access to asylum procedures and to address overcrowding in the buffer zone. Among those trapped are women and children who had to contend with extreme heat waves and, most recently, floods.

“The term pushback is misused,” Ioannides said. “This is used when we have a border and one state is pushing people to another state or to the sea where their lives are in danger. That didn’t happen here. We monitor the Green Line so that they don’t get into the open areas.”

“We are well aware of the concerns raised by UNHCR and UNFICYP, we are in dialogue with them and say that the Republic of Cyprus obviously has obligations, but we cannot ignore the obligations of a third country that at least tolerates this.” situation,” he said:

“All these people didn’t end up there like magic, they traveled through Turkey to the occupied territories and then to the Green Line. But it is a question of principle for us not to turn the Green Line into a migration route. We have had a structured dialogue with UNHCR and UNFICYP in recent weeks, we have shown good will to resolve the issue and I believe it will be resolved in the next few weeks.”