LONDON: Human rights lawyers on Friday were celebrating a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights for Cyprus to pay damages to two Syrian refugees who were blocked from applying for asylum as a major victory.
The ECHR on Tuesday condemned Nicosia for returning two Syrian refugees to Lebanon who had arrived on a small boat, without examining their asylum claim, and said the country had committed four violations of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Cyprus failed to conduct “any assessment of the risk of lack of access to an effective asylum process in Lebanon or the living conditions of asylum-seekers there,” it also said, adding that the Cypriot government had not assessed the risk of “refoulement,” which is the forcible return of refugees to a country such as Syria where they might be subjected to persecution.
Lawyer Nicoletta Charalambidou, who represented the refugees, said the judgment set a precedent against Cyprus’ migration policies, .
“For four years the migration policies of Cyprus have relied on human rights violations, and illegal pushbacks at land and sea,” she said.
“This ruling has exposed these illegal practices and it has set a precedent. It is a perfect win for human rights,” she added.
Charalambidou stated that more legal actions are likely to follow, as asylum-seekers seek justice for violations of their rights under EU and international law.
“There are many more that I will be filing here in Nicosia before the administrative court of international protection and of course this week’s judgment (in Strasbourg) will encourage others,” she said.
“At first we saw pushbacks in the sea, now we’re seeing pushbacks in the buffer zone but Cyprus has obligations. It has to provide access to asylum requests wherever they come from and it has to provide dignified reception conditions. It is duty bound to do that under EU and international law.”
The ruling came amid reports by the UN’s refugee agency and the Border Violence Monitoring Network highlighting Cyprus’ use of new surveillance technologies and forcible expulsions, particularly in the buffer zone.
Around 65 asylum-seekers, including minors and cancer patients, remain stranded in the UN-patrolled zone between Cyprus’ divided regions.
“The state is now providing food but what is required is a sustainable long-term solution,” said Emilia Strovolidou, the UN agency’s spokesperson. “We’re in talks with the government. There are people who’ve been in limbo for months now and psychologically they’re in a very difficult situation.”
However, Nicholas Ioannides, Cyprus’ deputy minister in charge of migration, said in August his country was not bound under EU law to examine asylum requests even if lodged by claimants in a transit zone.
“Cyprus has taken a decision that it will not accept flows through the green line, particularly as we’ve managed to have zero arrivals via sea,” he said.
