Refugees continue to be the last priority of the DISY Government
Statement by AKEL MP Nikos Kettirou, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Refugees on the freezing of the processing of applications by the Service for the Care and Rehabilitation of Displaced Persons
21 December 2022, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia
The Government’s insistence on changing the management structure of the Ministry of Interior just a few days before the presidential elections has created a chain of problems in the operation of the Displaced Persons Care and Rehabilitation Service.
More specifically, the Ministry of Interior through the 2022 supplementary budget has abolished the position of the Director of the Displaced Persons Care and Rehabilitation Service in order to create a group of directors in the Ministry of Interior who can be rotated at any time the Ministry wishes. The result is that the existing legislation clashes with the Government’s decision to delete this post.
AKEL had warned both in the Parliamentary Committee on Refugees and during the plenary session about the implications of trying to change the management structure of the Ministry of Interior in this way and without holding any meaningful discussion and dialogue. AKEL subsequently tabled an amendment to delete the specific provisions.
Unfortunately, DISY, DIKO, EDEK and DIPA all supported the Interior Minister’s proposal and the bill will now be paid by hundreds of beneficiaries in all districts who were waiting during December for the Committees of the Displaced Persons Care and Rehabilitation Service to convene and for their applications for housing assistance to proceed.
The government’s latest “success” story is yet another link in the decade-long chain of the downgrading of the policy concerning the 1974 war refugees and abandonment of the refugee population. It is also yet another reason why the DISY government must not continue – neither with Averof Neofytou nor with Nikos Christodoulides – so that refugees can hope for better and more dignified days.
