A 31-YEAR-OLD Lebanese mother of two, desperate to flee her war-stricken country and to join her husband who works in Limassol, was yesterday denied political asylum at Larnaca airport.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR] said that if this were the case, the authorities had broken international and national laws.
The story comes in the wake of an Ethiopian woman who came from Lebanon who was detained last Thursday because she did not have an onward ticket.
Bulad and her two sons, aged eight and five, were detained upon arrival at the airport on the grounds that Bulad was put on the island’s stop list after she had overstayed her visitor’s visa three years ago.
Despite efforts by her husband Abdul Rahim Eyad and his business partner Andreas Ioannou, the trio were barred from entering the Republic and kept at the airport overnight.
Migration authorities will today decide whether or not to deport the family.
“They said she has to stay at the airport and they’ll ask the head of migration what to do with her tomorrow [today],” Ioannou told the Cyprus Mail yesterday.
“But where is she supposed to go? She doesn’t know anyone in Syria. Where will she stay there? She can’t get back to Lebanon because all the roads have been destroyed. Her town has been bombed.
“The children were terrified that their house would come down on top of them and stopped sleeping. What are they supposed to do? They only want to join him [Eyad] for one or two weeks until things settle in Lebanon and then they’ll go back. I said I’d vouch for them, that they’d stay with me, but they [immigration authorities] wouldn’t listen. They kept saying their hands were tied and that they’d have to wait for instructions from above.”
Ioannou said Bulad and her sons, aged eight and five, escaped to Damascus from their bomb shelled town just outside Beirut in an effort to join Eyad who has been living and working in Cyprus for the past 10 years. Through the Syrian Embassy Ioannou, who owns a car spare parts company with Eyad in Limassol, managed to secure the family entry visas.
But when Bulad and her two sons arrived in Larnaca at 9.05am yesterday she was stopped by immigration authorities.
Ioannou said: “Three years ago she came to Cyprus to visit her husband. Before that she used to come here on his visa but then the law changed and she had to get her own visa. When her visa expired she didn’t extend it because she was planning on going back anyway. At the time I alerted the migration office and they said she was illegal, but since she was going back of her own free will it wouldn’t be a problem.
“Apparently they put her on the stop list and we knew nothing about it. When I tried explaining all this to them today [yesterday] it didn’t make a difference.”
He said when Bulad asked for political asylum she was told that “wasn’t possible”.
“They wouldn’t tell us why. They just said it wasn’t possible. I asked to see her and the children but they wouldn’t let me. Only Abdul Rahim saw them.”
Immigrant support group, KISA, president Doros Polycarpou said it was not the first time the airport’s immigration authorities had denied people the right to make an asylum application.
“If you look back you’ll see not a single application has been made [from the airport] since 2000.
No wonder all the asylum seekers cross over from the occupied areas. Why would they come to Republic when they know they’ll be denied the right to apply for asylum and deported?” Polycarpou said.
The migration department and Larnaca airport’s immigration were unable to confirm or deny this claim citing a lack of statistics.
UNHCR representative Cristina Planas said: “According to the universal declaration of human rights anybody has the right to seek asylum, [and] because of this particular situation in Lebanon then much more so.
“An airport is the place where the police have to facilitate an asylum application and to give the appropriate forms which are then forwarded to the asylum service.”
She added: “According to article 11 of the national refugee law, the application is admitted at all entry points of the republic upon arrival of the applicant or within the Republic at any police station.
“And according to the Cypriot legislation the airport is an appropriate place to file an asylum claim…If she is not facilitated a form, this against international and national law.”
But Interior Ministry Lazaros Savvides said the fact that Bulad had overstayed her visa and been put on the stop list over-ruled her right to apply for political asylum.
Savvides said: “Her behaviour shows she’s not a person who respects the laws of a country she visits and that’s why she’s on the stop list. A person can only come here and ask for political asylum if they have not been here before.
“They cannot come here, stay illegally for 18 months and then leave and expect to come back and ask for asylum and expect all doors to open for them and to have access to benefits…
“Her husband is also illegal and the authorities are looking for him… I have asked for more information on this case to make sure that there is no mistake in our decision. If there isn’t [a mistake] she will be deported tomorrow night [tonight] to where she came from [Syria].”
According to his lawyer, Eyad’s allegation was illegal was unfounded. She said she had asked the migration authorities to extend her client’s visa or to allow his naturalisation process to go forward repeatedly during the past 12 months.
“For the past year they have completely ignored our request which is why his visa has expired. They are at fault, not my client. The [Interior] Minister instructed migration officers to extend to extend his visa and they haven’t,” his lawyer said.
Ioannou added: “Looking for him? They know where he works and where he lives, what do they mean they’re looking for him and can’t find him? He was also at the airport today and saw his wife and children.”
Both Ioannou and Eyad’s lawyer said they would do everything in their power to stop today’s deportation going ahead.
“All day, every day all you hear is how much we’re helping Lebanon and how great we are. It’s all lies. I am so disappointed at how this family have been treated. I could hear the kids crying, Bulad crying and Eyad crying and I could do nothing. I’m just so shocked.
“This is a tragedy. They fled their country to save their lives and they’re not being allowed in. I can’t believe it.”
IOM: no one has contacted us to help
THE CYPRUS Mail contacted the International Organisation for Migration [IOM] after an Ethiopian woman was deported back to Lebanon seven days ago when immigration authorities at Larnaca port determined she lacked an onward airline ticket.
The inter-governmental organisation, which is dedicated to promoting humane and orderly migration for the benefit of all by providing services and advice to governments and migrants, received funds from the European Commission and the US government to carry out evacuation and repatriation of stranded migrants from countries who are unable to help their nationals.
The Mail wanted to know if the IOM had been approached to help in the repatriation of third country nationals, such as the Ethiopian, instead of resorting to deportation.
The IOM said: “Cyprus has not approached IOM for assistance. We have informed the Cyprus government that we have funding available at the moment for us to carry out evacuations and repatriations of any nationals of countries who don’t have the means to do so and the Cyprus government is fully aware of our ability and readiness to assist.”
Here’s $50 – good luck
GOVERNMENT spokesman Christodoulos Pashardis said yesterday that the government would not in any way accept foreign nationals staying temporarily in Cyprus for clearly humanitarian reasons.
According to the Cyprus News Agency, Pashiardis was commenting on reports by TV channel Sigma regarding incidents at the International State Fair caused by Arabic-speaking residents of Lebanon, holders of US passports, who were told by the US Embassy that it could not offer them further hospitality.
The reporter said that some of those who were able to leave for the United States had done so but other were not allowed to depart. He added that they were given $50 each, which caused an uproar, and it was decided that they should be taken to hotels in Nicosia, where the Immigration department took down their names as persons who had remained in Cyprus.
Pashardis said the government was fully informed about the issue and that the Ministry of the Interior is in constant communication with the US Embassy.
“The clear and categorical position of the government is that it is the exclusive obligation of the American side to transport outside Cyprus its citizens and all those who have been brought under its responsibility.
“There is no way or reason will we accept foreign nationals to stay in Cyprus who for clearly humanitarian reasons are being hosted temporarily on our territory. The American side must take and fully meet its responsibility,” he added.
The Spokesman noted that the government’s position applies to all foreign nationals being brought to Cyprus.
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