Migrants stranded in Cyprus’ buffer zone as asylum applications suspended

Fourteen migrants are stranded in the buffer zone near the University of Cyprus campus in Aglantzia.

The Republic of Cyprus’ temporary suspension of asylum applications prevents them from entering government-controlled areas.

The stranded group includes women and children from Afghanistan, Sudan, Cameroon and Iran.

The United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) are working together to provide assistance.

This year, migration from the occupied territories across the Green Line has increased. In response, the government has increased patrols along the buffer zone. Newly hired officers are conducting continuous patrols to deter incoming migrants.

Meanwhile, the government reported a 95 percent drop in boat arrivals from Syria.

This was achieved through naval patrols and pushbacks in Lebanese waters in cooperation with the government of the neighboring country.

The Missing Migrants Project, an initiative of the International Organization for Migration that has been tracking migrant deaths and disappearances since 2014, has found that the Mediterranean crossing remains the deadliest route for migrants, recording at least 3,129 migrant deaths and disappearances there last year.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said earlier this year that the evidence collected indicates that Syrian refugees who have fled the ongoing Syrian civil war face serious human rights violations, such as torture and abduction, upon their return to Syria, while women face sexual harassment and violence.

According to the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights, pushbacks are various state measures aimed at expelling refugees and migrants from their territory while denying them access to the applicable legal and procedural frameworks.

“In this way, states circumvent guarantees of international protection (including for minors), detention or custody, expulsion and the use of force,” it says.

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