AKEL on International Migrants Day

AKEL C.C. Press Office, 18 December 2018, Nicosia

This year’s International Migrants Day is stigmatized by the hideous attack carried out by hooded thugs against an immigrant of African descent in Larnaca. AKEL demands the immediate shedding of light of the attack committed and the punishment of the perpetrators, but also the investigation of the accusations made about the stand of the police authorities towards immigrants.

On the other hand, 164 countries throughout the world have approved the UN Global Compact on Migration despite the stand taken by the Trump’s Government and other xenophobic governments. The Compact – although not binding legally and with shortcomings – constitutes a first step in forging transnational cooperation on migration and the respect for the human rights of migrants.

We welcome the Republic of Cyprus’ support of the Covenant and urge the government to pursue a migration policy in the spirit of exactly what it has signed. The perception being cultivated that immigrants working in our country seeking a better life represent “a threat to the cultural character of the country”, at the same time as foreign rich tycoons who buy Cypriot citizenship with their millions are considered “a blessing for the economy” hides a profound hypocrisy.

As AKEL, we have repeatedly called on the government to:

1. Elaborate a National Action Plan for the Integration of Immigrants.
2. Ratify ILO Convention 189 on the Dignified Work of Domestic Workers, as well as the United Nations International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families
3. Strengthen the struggle against human trafficking for sexual or labour exploitation.
4. Elaborate an Action Plan to combat racism, xenophobia and hate rhetoric/hate crimes. As AKEL, over and above all else we are promoting the class organization and the waging of common struggles by Cypriot and foreign workers, which is their strength.

On the occasion of International Migrants Day, AKEL calls on all those who resort to racism against immigrants living in our homeland to reflect on the causes and conditions that in the past decades uprooted tens of thousands of Cypriots and forced them to seek a better life in Europe, America and Australia; to think about the young people in Cyprus who today are forced to look for work abroad; to reflect on the 250 million people around the world who are forced to abandon their countries, as well as the 60,000 people who have died since 2000 in their endeavor to emigrate.

AKEL sends out a message of solidarity to immigrants living and working in our country, who are experiencing acute-exploitation on the part of the employers, the arbitrariness of the state, xenophobia and at times violent acts committed by the ultra-right. AKEL assures them that it will continue to defend and struggle for their rights.