UNHCR slams state treatment of refugees in Cyprus

The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR in Cyprus, said on Friday that most asylum-seekers are severely materially deprived because of the low level of social assistance they receive, and called on the government to review its policies.
A group of asylum seekers and refugees met with the agency on Friday to discuss the problems they face over their living conditions and future prospects in Cyprus.
UNHCR said in a statement that these are vulnerable individuals who fled war-torn countries and human rights violations and are today faced with immense difficulties in their daily lives due to the inadequacies of the reception system.
During the meeting the asylum seekers and refugees spoke of the risk of becoming homeless, the systematic delay in the issuance of food coupons and the insufficiency of assistance in general.
“At the same time, they underscored their desire not to be dependent on government assistance, but to be given better opportunities for employment and vocational training in order to achieve the soonest possible self-sufficiency and become contributing members of the host local society,” the statement said.
Damtew Dessalegne, UNHCR representative in Cyprus, called on the government to finally step up.
“Time and again, over the last four years, UNHCR Cyprus has raised its serious concerns with the government regarding both the conditions at the Kofinou reception centre as well as the social assistance asylum-seekers living in the community receive, which is below the national poverty line. I regret to say that no progress has been made yet,” Dessalegne said.
“We reiterate once more our call on the government to carefully review its policies with a view to ensuring a dignified standard of living for people who have sought protection in Cyprus from war and persecution.”
UNHCR said that the voucher system the government has in place to assist asylum seekers ‘is ineffective, inefficient and disempowering’.
Asylum seekers are given €220 per month in social assistance to cover food, clothing, utilities, transportation, and all other essential needs other than accommodation. For housing, a rent allowance of €100 is paid. The meagre rent allowance in tandem with the irregularity with which it is paid, UNHCR said, ‘has led to a growing problem of homelessness’.
On top of that, it added, last month, the social welfare offices in Larnaca and Limassol arbitrarily decided to halve the rent allowance to €50.
This means that many beneficiaries could face eviction at any time as they are unable to pay rent.
“Among those affected are vulnerable female asylum seekers such as young women, single mothers and victims of trafficking.”
It added that employment is not allowed for the first six months and after that it is allowed only in limited sectors requiring unskilled labour such as farming, animal husbandry, garbage collection and car washing.
One of the most pressing issues at the Kofinou reception centre is the overflow of sewage water, which has reportedly not been adequately addressed yet.
In an open letter to the interior minister, the honorary chairperson of Cyprus Stop Trafficking, Androula Christofidou Henriques, urged officials who plan on visiting the reception centre over Christmas to wear galoshes.
“Sewerage overflows on a permanent basis, forming a stream that crosses the camp and ends up in a pond of standing water,” the letter said.
She also told officials that they will be welcomed by bins that are always overfilled along with various creatures such as flies and cockroaches.
Henriques asked why it is so difficult for the public works department to fix the problem.
She added that she plans to tell EU Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Dimitris Avramopoulos, and the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muiznieks about living conditions at the reception centre.
UNHCR published a report last April that it sent to all relevant government departments documenting the main shortcomings of the national policies relating to the reception conditions for asylum-seekers and making recommendations for addressing them.

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