News cookies

How is the island of Cyprus overwhelmed by the influx of migrants?

Audio 1:30 p.m.

Asylum seekers in the Pournara camp in Cyprus, February 1, 2022. © CHRISTINA ASSI / AFP

By: Alexandra Cagnard Follow

2 mins

For some time now, Cyprus has been facing a major wave of migration.

According to Frontex, the European agency responsible for securing the external borders of the European Union, the number of migrants and asylum seekers arriving on the island increased in January by 48% over one year.

Noé Pignède, RFI correspondent in Lebanon, traveled to the Cypriot capital, Nicosia, and recounted.

Advertising

In this episode of

Witnesses to the News

,

Noé Pignède 

first explains that the geographical location of Cyprus favors this influx of exiles: " 

Isolated in the Mediterranean, it is not far from the African continent, not far from the Middle East , we are fifty kilometers from the Syrian and Lebanese coasts and the boat trip is sometimes less dangerous than some other routes in the Mediterranean

 ”.

Since 1974, Cyprus has been divided in two.

Nicosia the capital, splits the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and the Southern Cypriot Republic supported by the Europeans.

The majority of migrants arrive by plane from Turkey with student visas in hand.

They then cross the demarcation line with the south: “ 

It is a green line of 184 kilometers, demilitarized, controlled by the United Nations, but it is not a border.

It is a very porous line.

In places it is just a field

 ”.

Once in the south, the situation becomes more complicated: “To register as asylum seekers, migrants must go to the Pournara camp.

They are supposed to spend a fortnight there, but in reality, they spend months there in deplorable conditions.

Noé Pignède met a Syrian who said: “ 

This camp is the worst in the world.

I'm afraid of dying.

If I had known, I would never have come.

The smugglers sold us dreams.

We were told that there we were going to work and earn a hundred euros a day.

I left everything to come, my family, my children, but in fact, here, it's worse than in Syria 

”.

Cyprus is not part of the Schengen area which allows the free movement of goods and people.

In addition, the so-called Dublin regulation applies.

Regulation, according to which, the first country in which a migrant arrives is the country in which he must apply for asylum.

As a result, even if this request is accepted, it is then very difficult to leave Cyprus for another EU country.

“ 

In certain areas of Nicosia

, explains Noé,

there are more migrants than locals.

It has become a city where thousands of people are wandering around with suitcases

 ”.

Subscribe to "News Witnesses"

Witnesses to the news

 is available for listening on all podcast platforms:

Apple Podcasts

,

Spotify

,

Deezer

,

Podcast Addict

,

Google Podcasts

,

TuneIn

or any other application using the

RSS feed

.

If you like this podcast, give it 5 stars and post a comment on these applications so that it is visible and therefore even more listened to.

Newsletter

Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

google-play-badge_FR

  • Cyprus

  • International Migrations

  • European Union

Our guests

  • Noah Pignede

On the same subject

Faced with the influx of refugees, Cyprus calls for help Brussels

Decryption

Cyprus, an unprecedented case in Europe

In Cyprus, Pope Francis calls for "unity" in the midst of a migration crisis