NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus and the United Nations company for refugees on Thursday clashed over allegations that the east Mediterranean island nation continues to interact in so-called pushbacks in opposition to boats loaded with migrants departing from neighboring Syria or Lebanon.
The conflict, which unfolded on the state broadcaster Thursday, got here a couple of days after Cypriot authorities recovered two survivors and 7 our bodies in worldwide waters off Cyprus after their boat apparently sank in tough seas.
Emilia Strovolidou, spokeswoman for the U.N. Excessive Fee for Refugees, instructed the state broadcaster that Cypriot police intercepted three boatloads of migrants inside Cypriot territorial waters on between March 13-14 however prevented them from disembarking at Larnaca port, making them flip again to Syria from the place they departed.
Cypriot Justice Minister Marios Hartsiotis vociferously disputed Strovolidou’s claims, saying Cypriot patrol vessels intercepted two – not three – boats close to Lebanon’s territorial waters inside Cyprus’ search and rescue space of accountability.
He mentioned Cypriot authorities requested Lebanon’s help – according to a bilateral settlement – to show the boats again to the Lebanese coast from the place they set sail.
Hartsiotis insisted Cyprus doesn’t have interaction in pushbacks and abides by its worldwide authorized obligations, including {that a} “critical group” such because the UNHCR “should substantiate its claims.” He mentioned any related data needs to be forwarded to Cypriot police for a correct investigation.
Protection Minister Vasilis Palmas additionally mentioned the UNCHR’s claims “don’t stand.”
“We have now each proper to guard our borders together with these at sea,” Hartsiotis mentioned. Cyprus’ get-tough strategy to irregular migrant arrivals noticed a precipitous drop in such arrivals during the last two years. In 2024, migrant arrivals dropped 64% relative to 2022, whereas the proportion of migrant departures elevated from 43% in 2022 to 179% in 2024.
The Related Press requested the UNHCR to account for the discrepancies within the two variations. In a written assertion, the company provided no further particulars however insisted that the “people on board have been denied entry to Cyprus and at the moment are again in Syria from the place that they had fled.”
“The worldwide authorized precept of non-refoulement prohibits all states … from partaking in conduct that dangers sending individuals again – instantly or not directly – to a spot the place they might be vulnerable to persecution or critical human rights violations,” the assertion mentioned.
The Cyprus authorities’s declare that it doesn’t have interaction in pushbacks relies by itself definition of what constitutes a pushback. Hartsiotis mentioned a key aspect to a pushback is using violence, saying Cypriot authorities don’t resort to such ways.
Europe’s high human rights courtroom dominated final October that Cyprus violated the suitable of two Syrian nationals to hunt asylum within the island nation after maintaining them, and greater than two dozen different individuals, aboard a ship at sea for 2 days earlier than sending them again to Lebanon.
The row adopted Monday’s rescue of two males some 45 kilometers (28 miles) south of Cyprus the place a ship they have been passengers on sank in tough seas.
Officers mentioned the boat was believed to be carrying not less than 20 Syrian males between the ages of 25-30. An ongoing search of the world has turned up nothing extra.
The sinking sparked media hypothesis over Cypriot authorities’ alleged inaction, particularly after it was discovered that the non-governmental group Alarm Cellphone had warned authorities a day earlier of a migrant boat in misery someplace off Cyprus’ southern coast.
This prompted an indignant response through which authorities officers said that air and sea belongings had been dispatched in a search effort protecting an space of 1,000 nautical miles with none outcomes.
In a joint assertion, the ministers of justice, protection and migration mentioned there’s nothing to date to recommend that the Alarm Cellphone warning involved the sunken boat on which the 2 rescued males have been aboard.
“It’s unacceptable for the Cyprus Republic to face accused of violating human rights,” the ministers mentioned. “the Cyprus Republic has by no means ignored an enchantment for assist or a message regarding a search and rescue operation and takes all vital actions according to the legislation.”
