AKEL on the amendment of the Constitution
Some of the proposed provisions will expose Cyprus to international and European bodies
AKEL C.C. Press Office, 4th September 2020, Nicosia
The Republic of Cyprus needs a modern and effective asylum system based on international law, international conventions and the European obligations that bind our state regarding asylum. That’s precisely why, last July, the House of Representatives unanimously approved laws that provide tools to combat sham marriages. However, a significant number of the provisions in the changes now proposed by the government – both with the constitutional amendment and in the relevant bills – are marginally within or outside the framework of the Republic of Cyprus’ international and European obligations on the rights of asylum seekers.
AKEL warns that some of the proposed regulations that curb the right to effective access to justice and the principle of personalized examination of each asylum application will expose Cyprus to international and European bodies.
Neither the Constitution nor anyone else but the Anastasiades-DISY government is responsible for the fact that the examination of asylum applications in Cyprus lasts up to five years, which for years has left the competent service without the necessary staff and infrastructures, despite the fact that since 2014 it has received EUR 100 million from the EU for refugees/migrants.
It is the Anastasiades-DISY government that isn’t demonstrating the will to confront and stamp out the phenomena of exploitation and modern slave trade of foreigners from networks that are also connected in some cases with private education colleges. The fact that refugees are trapped in the southern member states of the Mediterranean is the sole responsibility of the policy pursued by the EU, namely the Dublin Regulation which obliges the country of the refugee’s first arrival to examine his/her application at a time when European governments are refusing to accept a system of hosting refugees throughout the all member states according to the capabilities of each one.
