Established on December 14 1950, the
Office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR
) is
a United Nations agency mandated to
protect and support refugees and assists in
their voluntary repatriation, local
integration or resettlement to a third
country.
In
Cyprus
, the UNHCR office opened in August 1974 upon the
request of the Government of Cyprus (GoC) and the Secretary-General of the
United Nations, immediately after the tragic events that left a
large number of people in dire need. UNHCR Representation in
Cyprus was designated as Coordinator of the United Nations
Humanitarian Assistance for
Cyprus.
Parallel to the above, UNHCR was also responsible, upon the request
of the Cyprus Government, to examine applications for
refugee status.
Simultaneously UNHCR assisted the Government in developing their
national
legislation and procedure for
the examination of asylum claims. The law came into life in 2000
and in January 2002 the Cyprus Government started receiving and
processing asylum applications.
The UNHCR Representation in Cyprus offices are located in the
United Nations Protected Area (UNPA), where the
United Nations
Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) is based. Access to UNPA
is restricted and tightly controlled by UNFIYP, through check
points and other forms of
surveillance.
History
1974 – 1997
UNHCR has been assisting in Cyprus since 1974. At the request of
the Government of Cyprus (GoC) and the
United Nations Secretary
General (UN-SG), UNHCR operated programs for
internally displaced persons
(IDP) till 1998. This assistance included provision of housing and
small industries as well as promotion of projects and bi-communal
activities, in order to remedy the
shortages created due to population displacements
and to encourage co-operation between
Greek Cypriots and
Turkish Cypriots towards a unified approach
as regards issues of common concern. This function lasted till
1997.
Since the establishment of a UNHCR office in Cyprus in 1974 and
until June 1998, the office received a small number of applications
for refugee status per year. In 1998, however, a boat with persons
claiming fear for their lives or serious violations of their
human rights in their countries of
origin started arriving in Cyprus asking for
asylum.
1998 - 2002
Since 1998 it has worked on its regular mandate (international
refugees), as the designated
authority
charged with supervising the implementation of international
refugee conventions. The
UN General Assembly (UN-GA) Resolution
establishing UNHCR, as well as the 1951
Refugee Convention (that is binding on
the Cyprus Republic), call for cooperation between the Governments
and the UNHCR.
During that period, UNHCR Representation in Cyprus was heavily
concentrated in supporting the efforts of the GoC to develop an
asylum system and an asylum space in Cyprus. Since 1998 till 2002
UNHCR simultaneously undertook
Refugee
Status Determination (RSD) , resettled the recognized refugees
in other countries, assisted in the drafting of the national
refugee legislation, assisted in the configuration of the required
institutions for its
implementation,
and trained such institutions.
In 2002 the GoC started undertaking RSD on its own. The first
Refugee Law enacted in
Parliament in 2000
has been amended in 2002, 2004, 2005 and 2007 by transposing the
EU directives aiming at harmonising
the asylum space in the EU along common minimum standards. UNHCR
has closely advised in the process of transposing each of these
directives through direct guidance to the drafters (being the
Asylum Service or the
Attorney
General office), as well as in the process of amending laws
that should include sections on refugees..
2002 - today
UNHCR Cyprus undertakes RSD training each time new Eligibility
Officers (EO) are recruited at the Asylum Service (thereafter AS)
and Reviewing Authority (thereafter RA –an independent body). In
addition, it trains
cadets in the
police academy twice a year as well as
refreshment sessions for
immigration
police once a year. Advice on individual cases and on-the-job
training are also part of the UNHCR training activities.
UNHCR contributed to the development of the European Refugee Fund
(ERF -managed by the Ministry of Interior) annual and multi-annual
strategy for Cyprus and participated in the selection committee for
ERF project awards in 2005 and 2006. In 2006, it undertook training
to
civil servants coming in contact
with
asylum seekers and
refugees, and training to teachers on asylum as a
human right in the context of a project on
European citizenship.
UNHCR has
closely advised the AS and the RA in particular towards sounding
policy and practice towards applicants from Iraq
and Palestine in light of the particular current
circumstances.
UNHCR assisted in the
transposition of the
EU directive on the minimum standards for the
reception conditions (transposed in December 2005), the
transposition of the EU qualifications directive (transposed in
July 2006), and is currently assisting in the transposition of the
EU procedures directive. This process entails the provision of a
written commentary on the draft law, coaching the drafters on every
aspect of the draft, presenting views in the various sessions as
called by the
Parliament, providing
written statements to the Parliament when these are necessary to
complement the oral statements, conducting sessions with members of
the committees as requested. Similar task has been performed in
regards to other minor directives and amendments to national
legislation related to asylum (such as the public allowance law and
the legal aid law).
UNHCR
assisted the GoC and the Red Cross
in the negotiation with the asylum seekers
demonstrating during May and June 2006 and the persons granted
subsidiary protection (another form of international protection)
demonstrating from February though September 2007 for an
appropriate conclusion of the demonstrations.
UNHCR provides
legal aid to well selected
asylum applicants through a project undertaken by an
NGO since legal aid does not exist in Cyprus for this
sector at the moment. It also undertook a participatory
assessment among refugees, persons granted
subsidiary protection, and asylum seekers in November 2005. The
participatory assessment was updated from June till September 2006
specifically on female refugees and asylum seekers.
UNHCR Representation in Cyprus undertook the following
surveys: in the first quarter of 2006 on
the use of lawyers by asylum seekers, from September till December
on the quality of public allowance among those a/s and refugees who
succeed in receiving it, from February through June 2007 on the
enjoyment of public allowance and other
entitlements by Iraqi refugees and persons
granted subsidiary protection and in 2008 on the training needs of
refugees and persons granted subsidiary protection.
Recent Activities
public awareness and calling for active engagement of everyone is
an indispensable prerequisite for effective integration of refugees
and an integral part of UNHCR’s work. "A bundle of belongings isn’t
the only thing a refugee brings to his new country…
Einstein was a refugee”. This is the reading of a
UNHCR poster with Einstein’s portrait that
currently travels with Nicosia buses, reminding us that
refugees can contribute in all sorts of ways to the
hosting society if they get a second chance to rebuild their lives
in their new country. A reading that is calling everyone – State,
individuals, private corporations - to approach refugees not as a
burden to the
society but as persons with
their own skills, energy and talent able to complement and enrich
anyone who responds to their call for inclusion; the corporation
that offers them employment, the individual who offers them a warm
smile and eventually the country that offers them asylum.
UNHCR Cyprus launched in June 2006 the public awareness
marketing campaign
"Hope" in order to highlight the causes that force
people to seek refuge in other countries, in an effort to inform
and foster
empathy for refugees and asylum
seekers. This campaign started with the launching of the UNHCR
t-shirt “HOPE”, which took place within the
framework of the
World Refugee Day (WRD) on 20 June 2006.
The t-shirt, designed by the well known Cypriot fashion designer Ms
Kika Ioannidou, portrays
vulnerable
human beings (either a man or woman) who had to flee their country
because of fear for their life and are hoping for help; help is
coming to them from those understanding the
plea. Ms Kika Ioannidou states: "The red lines are the
arms that are bringing the needed help. The yellow suns represent a
brighter future with the hope that they will not have to run again
from fear, hope that they will find safety, hope that they will
manage to rebuild their lives”. The “HOPE” T-shirt is available for
sale, the proceeds of which will be used for UNHCR’ s
operations.
With the same aim in June 2007 UNHCR Cyprus adapted in
Greek language the electronic educational
game for the youth,
"taxidi
fygis", which was disseminated widely through
brochures and
workshops
at schools.
"Taxidi fygis" is a reworked version of a
Swedish-language game, Motallaodds,
which was designed by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
in Stockholm
and launched nearly two years ago. It is an
interactive online game created to increase students’ awareness and
knowledge about
refugee situations by
putting players in the position of a refugee.
"Protection" campaign
launched by
UNHCR Representation in Cyprus.
Divided into three categories –“War and Conflict”, “Borderland”,
and “A New Life” - it takes players on a journey ultimately towards
asylum, but also touches on issues of understanding and
intuition in different environments.
Players are challenged by a variety of obstacles and
scenarios simulating struggles refugees are forced
to deal with every day, from sneaking out of town to dealing with
prejudices in a new place.
In June 2008, on the occasion of the
World Refugee Day, UNHCR Representation in
Cyprus launched a photographic exhibition called
“Protection: what refugees need”. The aim of the
photos – each with a message to be read - is to transmit to the
widest possible audience how refugees differ from other population
movements including irregular migrants, what the obligations of the
Governments are to that end, what UNHCR does in respect of
protection and the different aspects of protection in Cyprus and
worldwide. In some of these photos, people – known and unknown -
make the “protecting hand” sign, symbolizing their commitment and
support towards the world’s most
vulnerable and at the same time making UNHCR’
s logo widely known and synonymous with “refugee protection”. Other
photos show destruction that leads to
forced displacement as well as internally
displaced Cypriots.
Plans for the future
In the years to come, UNHCR Cyprus will continue its activities
aiming at enhancing the protection space for
asylum seekers and
refugees. At the same time, it is equally important
to continue sharing information,
policies
and
know-how with governmental and
non-governmental actors with a view to improve their capacity to
respond to the needs of asylum seekers and refugees.
UNHCR Cyprus would like to see more lawyers providing high quality
counselling to asylum applicants, either
through free legal counselling (as an in-kind contribution) by
registered lawyers or through further development of
NGO capacity.
It will also pursue more projects to enhance the understanding of
the refugee problem among the Cypriot society.
Misinformation in the country of asylum will
only exacerbate the suffering of refugees, who have already
experienced enough pain after having lost their homes and loved
ones just because of who they are or what they believe.
Finally, UNHCR Representation in Cyprus has in addition a mandate
to mobilize resources, both for the country field operations as
well as for the UNHCR’s operations around the world.
Functions
Ensure adherence to international refugee law standards
UNHCR contributes technical and worldwide
expertise to the Cypriot Government in the
processing of individual examination of applications for asylum,
with the aim to ensure that the decisions are in accordance to
international
human rights standards.
For this same purpose, UNHCR partially
funds
NGOs to provide gender based assistance, as well
as
legal advice to carefully selected
asylum applicants for their appeals and access to the rights
granted in the national law.
Government Advice
UNHCR advices the
Government by providing
comments on related
legislative drafts,
such as on the
transposition of
EU directives for the
harmonization of the European refugee
system.
Training
UNHCR provides training to actors involved in the protection of
refugees (
police officers, officers
who examine applications for refugee status,
lawyers,
civil
servants responsible for the effective
implementation of the related rights, etc.)
and
advocates for the improvement of the
quality of the asylum system.
Supervision
As in all countries, UNHCR Cyprus has a
supervisory role under the 1951
Refugee Convention in ensuring that the
rights of asylum seekers and refugees are duly respected. That
means in practice, having access to the asylum procedures, to
adequate housing, food, medical treatment and to integration as a
long term solution to the refugee plight.
Awareness
UNHCR informs and sensitizes the public on the problem of refugees
around the world, and in Cyprus, by
disseminating information to the media, and
reviewing media reports on
asylum
seekers and
refugees to ensure accuracy
of facts. Public awareness can only have a positive impact on the
public understanding.
In order to sensitize the general public in Cyprus towards the
refugee cause and to prevent
xenophobic
attitudes and promote
tolerance, UNHCR
organises either on its own or in co-operation with partners public
awareness activities (e.g. photo or other exhibitions, concerts,
etc.). In reaching the young people, UNHCR promotes school
activities and disseminates educational material to educators in
co-operation with governmental and non-governmental partners.
Refugee issues in Cyprus
Cyprus has been a
destination for a consistently increasing number of immigrants, regular and irregular.
According to national sources, the estimated number of irregular
migrants in Cyprus is 50,000. Cyprus enacted
refugee national legislation in January 2000 and its
asylum institutions started conducting Refugee Status Determination
(RSD) in 2002. In 2007, 6,784 persons submitted asylum applications
and in 2008, 3,922 persons applied for asylum. The number of the
asylum-seekers pending to be examined at the end of 2008 was 8,005.
Cyprus continues to rank first among the industrialized countries
in the per capita number of asylum applications.
Eight Year Overview of 1st instance Applications to the
Republic of Cyprus
| Month |
2002 |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
2009 |
| Jan |
106 |
163 |
241 |
926 |
400 |
419 |
254 |
303 |
| Feb |
14 |
152 |
270 |
494 |
285 |
703 |
440 |
369 |
| Mar |
53 |
34 |
598 |
629 |
497 |
529 |
423 |
|
| Apr |
50 |
51 |
581 |
776 |
285 |
813 |
310 |
|
| May |
38 |
45 |
336 |
885 |
385 |
489 |
312 |
|
| Jun |
28 |
54 |
1,195 |
329 |
234 |
347 |
274 |
|
| Jul |
51 |
17 |
1,184 |
141 |
471 |
521 |
435 |
|
| Aug |
63 |
111 |
675 |
792 |
285 |
500 |
220 |
|
| Sep |
110 |
385 |
982 |
843 |
204 |
362 |
326 |
|
| Oct |
112 |
393 |
543 |
606 |
394 |
696 |
232 |
|
| Nov |
110 |
1,191 |
770 |
552 |
381 |
566 |
334 |
|
| Dec |
216 |
1,815 |
2,484 |
772 |
724 |
839 |
362 |
|
| Total |
951 |
4,411 |
9,859 |
7,745 |
4,545 |
6,784 |
3,922 |
672 |
In principle, asylum-seekers are not denied access to Cyprus. Most
asylum-seekers, however, do not try to enter the country through
official channels, in order to avoid the
risk of not being admitted. While the Asylum Service (the first
instance body that examines asylum applications and the
coordinating body on asylum seekers’ issues) has done considerable
progress in setting up the structures and the processes to ensure
quality decisions, the
reality remains that
the number of Eligibility Officers (EOs) against the number of
applicants is still objectively insufficient. This is clearly
substantiated by the fact that at the end of 2008, there were 8,005
cases
pending to be decided.
Other problems related to refugees issues in Cyprus are the
following:
- There is neither legal aid nor lawyer
networks that provide legal aid for free. Coverage by NGOs is insufficient.
- The high number of asylum applicants has caused difficulties to
the welfare to provide for the minimum reception conditions as set
out in the Reception Condition Regulations of 2005.
- Labour offices are to refer asylum seekers to jobs but the
number of referrals is very low.
- Integration programs such as language and vocational training, appear to be insufficiently
disseminated among asylum seekers and refugees. Moreover, the
practical difficulties faced by refugees are not sufficiently taken
into account when it comes to the organization of such
programs.
- There are no alternatives to administrative detention.
- There is only one reception center in the country with a
capacity limited to 80 people.
Regarding the situation in the north part of Cyprus which the
Government of Cyprus does not have de facto control, there are no
socio-economic data available. Persons of certain nationalities are
detained and
deported
as soon as possible, most of the times without being given an
opportunity to distinguish irregular migrants from persons
suffering
persecution. The overwhelming
majority of those individuals who succeed in entering into the
north without being detected, cross the "
Green Line" and apply to the Government
of Cyprus. Applicants in the north are examined by UNHCR.
See also
References
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