5,000 asylum claims a year

CYPRUS is receiving around 5,000 asylum applications a year, has 8,000 cases pending, and approves only 1.5 per cent of applicants, Interior Minster Christos Patsalides said yesterday.

During a visit to the asylum services, Patsalides highlighted the dilemma of having to follow strict international guidelines for asylum seekers, while in some ways being unable to cope, particularly as the vast majority of asylum seekers come over the Green Line from the north.
The instability in neighbouring countries was also adding to the problem, he said.

So far this year the asylum services received 4,000 applications, which when added to the 4,000 not yet processed, means 8,000 are still pending.
“We are facing a very big problem and it needs to be handled with sensitivity and seriousness because it’s not just a social problem but a wider political problem,” Patsalides said.

“We are a European state and the wish of many of these people is to have access to a European country, and the partial lifting of restrictions [along the Green Line] gives them the chance to cross to the government-controlled areas.”

Patsalides said numbers began rising as soon as Cyprus joined the EU in May 2004 and were continuing despite the fact that Cyprus was often accused of being quite strict compared to other countries.

“Can Cyprus handle and accept such big numbers, even though we are obliged to because of European and international conventions?” he asked.
Patsalides said the main problem was in processing the applications since it was not possible to use strict deadlines since each case was unique. For those small numbers who were granted asylum, Patsalides said it was important that they were helped to integrate.

Makis Polydorou, the director of the asylum services, said there had been a slight reduction in the number of applications, but they were still high.
He said the government was working on hiring additional personnel.