Social support for Menoyia detainees

By Constantinos Psillides

THE Cyprus Red Cross Society (CRCS) and the police are  launching a project to provide immigrants held at the Menoyia Detention Centre with psycho-social services, according to CRCS general manager Takis Neofitou.

He explained during a press conference on Friday that the main objective is to promote and protect the human rights of the detainees at Menoyia, by providing basic welfare services.

“From the day the detention centre begun its operation, it became clear to us that the main problems the detainees were facing were of psychological and social nature. This is why we decided to provide the detainees with both psychological and social services,” said Neofitou.

The services will be provided by health care professionals, such as psychologists and social workers.

According to Neofitou, the procedure will be completed in two actions: development of psychological and social services and provision of said services under the new structure.

“These will be delivered in parallel to the social services provided by the programme, leading to and resulting in an empowered and completed psychosocial services structure,” he noted.

The project is funded by EEA grants, a fund set up by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway to reducing economic and social disparities in central and southern Europe.

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