Asylum numbers still falling

 

THE NUMBER of illegal immigrants coming in from the north has dropped significantly,  Interior Minister Neoclis Sylikiotis said yesterday.

Sylikiotis was speaking at a seminar entitled ‘The new Mediterranean reality of the EU: Immigration and Asylum in Cyprus, Malta and Greece” in Nicosia.

He said that in July 2011, the number of cases pending at the Asylum Service was down to 909 while in 2005 the number of applications was 11,500.

A total of 1,703 appeals were pending at the Refugee Reviewing Authority while in 2009, this number was 3,507, he added.

Sylikiotis said a progressive reduction in the number of illegal immigrants from the occupied areas was continuing, and that from January to August 2011, a total of 427 people entered from the north, of which 276 applied for political asylum.

The number of illegal immigrants who entered from the north in 2008 was 5,198. “Of course we understand that the occupation remains a threat to our internal security and poses risks with regard to the influx of illegal immigrants into the free areas,” he said.

Sylikiotis said Europe was now facing a “new tough Mediterranean reality”, and explained that developments in North Africa and the escalating tension and instability in the wider Middle East region, had resulted in a growing wave of mixed immigration influx towards the Mediterranean members of the EU.

He said the presence of the EU should be felt more powerfully in the area. “We cannot ignore that there have been positive steps towards this direction with the Pact on Immigration and Asylum. However, more needs to be done until the EU can act better as a unified entity in times of crisis. A weakness”, he added, “which is the result of the non-existence of a unified common European policy on immigration and asylum. We should act fast and decisively to face this challenge.”

The Conference was co-organised by the Offices of the European Parliament in Cyprus, Malta and Greece as well as the Press and Information Office.

 

 

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