LONDON
\nHuman rights lawyers on Friday were celebrating a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights for Cyprus to pay damages to two Syrian refugees who were blocked from applying for asylum as a major victory.
\nThe ECHR on Tuesday condemned Nicosia for returning two Syrian refugees to Lebanon who had arrived on a small boat, without examining their asylum claim, and said the country had committed four violations of the European Convention on Human Rights.
\nCyprus failed to conduct \u201cany assessment of the risk of lack of access to an effective asylum process in Lebanon or the living conditions of asylum-seekers there,\u201d it also said, adding that the Cypriot government had not assessed the risk of \u201crefoulement,\u201d which is the forcible return of refugees to a country such as Syria where they might be subjected to persecution.
\nLawyer Nicoletta Charalambidou, who represented the refugees, said the judgment set a precedent against Cyprus\u2019 migration policies, The Guardian newspaper reported on Friday.
\n\u201cFor four years the migration policies of Cyprus have relied on human rights violations, and illegal pushbacks at land and sea,\u201d she said.
\n\u201cThis ruling has exposed these illegal practices and it has set a precedent. It is a perfect win for human rights,\u201d she added.
\nCharalambidou stated that more legal actions are likely to follow, as asylum-seekers seek justice for violations of their rights under EU and international law.
\n\u201cThere are many more that I will be filing here in Nicosia before the administrative court of international protection and of course this week\u2019s judgment (in Strasbourg) will encourage others,\u201d she said.
\n\u201cAt first we saw pushbacks in the sea, now we\u2019re seeing pushbacks in the buffer zone but Cyprus has obligations. It has to provide access to asylum requests wherever they come from and it has to provide dignified reception conditions. It is duty bound to do that under EU and international law.\u201d
\nThe ruling came amid reports by the UN\u2019s refugee agency and the Border Violence Monitoring Network highlighting Cyprus\u2019 use of new surveillance technologies and forcible expulsions, particularly in the buffer zone.
\nAround 65 asylum-seekers, including minors and cancer patients, remain stranded in the UN-patrolled zone between Cyprus\u2019 divided regions.
\n\u201cThe state is now providing food but what is required is a sustainable long-term solution,\u201d said Emilia Strovolidou, the UN agency\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cWe\u2019re in talks with the government. There are people who\u2019ve been in limbo for months now and psychologically they\u2019re in a very difficult situation.\u201d
\nHowever, Nicholas Ioannides, Cyprus\u2019 deputy minister in charge of migration, said in August his country was not bound under EU law to examine asylum requests even if lodged by claimants in a transit zone.
\n\u201cCyprus has taken a decision that it will not accept flows through the green line, particularly as we\u2019ve managed to have zero arrivals via sea,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LONDON Human rights lawyers on Friday were celebrating a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights for Cyprus to pay damages to two Syrian refugees who were blocked from applying for asylum as a major victory. The ECHR on Tuesday condemned Nicosia for returning two Syrian refugees to Lebanon who had arrived on a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":436767,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-436720","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n