Cyprus has received 160,000 migrants since the mid 1980s
March 31st, 2017 George Psyllides Cyprus Mail
Photo: Christos Theodorides
CYPRUS has received some 160,000 economic migrants since the mid-1980s, or 20 per cent of its population, the second highest rate in the EU after Luxembourg, a UN representative said on Thursday.
Damtew Dessalegne, the representative of the UN high commission on refugees, said around 1,075 people have been granted refugee status and 6,890 were given subsidiary protection by Cyprus in the past 12 years.
The UN official said the high commission was satisfied about the progress achieved by the Republic as regards its international legal obligations on refugees.
Dessalegne said conditions at a reception centre in Kofinou needed improvement though asylum seekers living outside, who were the overwhelming majority, were faced with worse difficulties for their survival.
He said if they cannot work, either because they cannot find work or had health problems, the financial assistance they received was lower than the minimum guaranteed income — €320 per month – and could not cover all their needs.
Work was also needed on integration of refugees, he said. If there was no investment on integration, the refugee status had no meaning.
Effective integration required integration policies for asylum seekers, designed to promote integration and not isolation and separation from local society, he said.
Naturalisation remains the strongest weapon of integration, Dessalegne added, and the process should include strategies and training on the values of tolerance, multiculturalism, mutual respect, and diversity.
The UN official said hate and racism phenomena abounded in Europe and it was responsibility of European leaders to tackle it effectively through education and positive public discourse. The mass media also have an important role to play.
Interior Minister Socratis Hasikos said the island had received over 1,100 migrants since the beginning of the crisis.
Since 2011, more than five million people had abandoned their homes seeking refuge. In the first two months of the year, 140,000 asylum applications had been filed in the EU while a single week in March, between 13 and 19, recorded a 16 per cent rise.