NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) – The United Nations’ Cyprus’ efforts at sea to stop boats packed with Syrian refugees sailing from Lebanon reaching the EU member island nation should not violate international human rights laws or put passengers at risk, the refugee agency said on Friday. Should not be inserted.
Cypriot authorities have reportedly dispatched police patrol vessels just outside Lebanese territorial waters to stop the large number of boats. Syrian refugees About 110 miles (180 kilometers) away from reaching the island.
The Cypriot government says this includes the collapse of the Lebanese economy as well as the uncertainty caused by the Israel-Hamas war and recent tit-for-tat attacks between Israel and the US. lebanon This has resulted in large numbers of rickety boats filled with migrants – almost all Syrians – reaching the island.
Earlier this week, Cypriot patrol aircraft reportedly intercepted five boats carrying hundreds of Syrian refugees and migrants. The boats returned and the passengers disembarked safely.
Migrants aboard a Cyprus Maritime Police boat are brought to port after being rescued from their own ship off the south-eastern coast of the Mediterranean island nation in Protaras, Cyprus, on January 14, 2020. April 29, 2024 Cyprus’ efforts at sea to prevent boats filled with several Syrian refugees departing from Lebanon from reaching the EU member island nation violates international human rights laws, the UN agency for refugees said on Friday. Should not be violated. (AP Photo/Petros Karadzias)
Emilia Strovolidou, UNCHR spokesperson in Cyprus, told The Associated Press that according to testimony from passengers’ relatives, Cypriot authorities “forcefully pushed back” the boats using “violence” and “boat destabilization techniques.”
Strovolidou said the U.N. agency was “not in a position to corroborate” those testimonies.
A senior Cypriot official vehemently denied that any coercion was used to force the boats back to Lebanon, insisting that the Cypriot government was not involved in any kind of coercion. exists and operates “fully in accordance with international law”.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he cannot disclose details of ongoing operations, dismissed as “lies” allegations that Cypriot authorities had used any form of force.
Strovolidou said Cyprus is also bound by international law not to return individuals to any country, which could in turn deport them to their homeland where they could be at risk of harm or persecution.
UNHCR’s Lebanon office said in a statement it was aware of more than 220 people who had disembarked from boats that had returned to northern Lebanon on Wednesday. It said 110 of them were refugees registered with the UNHCR and all of them were released.
Saaddin Shatila, executive director of the Cedars Center for Legal Studies, a Lebanon-based human rights organization that tracks migration issues, said his group had information that the Lebanese army had detained Syrians and was possibly returning at least one. Was exiled from the boat. ‘Not registered with UNCHR.
The Lebanese army in the past has sometimes deported all Syrians aboard seized migrant boats, including registered refugees, a practice outraged by human rights organizations.
Lebanese political officials have for years been calling on the international community to either resettle the refugees in other countries or assist in returning them to Syria, and security forces have intensified deportations of Syrians in the past year . Some deportees reportedly faced detention and torture upon their return.
The Cypriot government is preparing an additional financial aid package for Lebanon to help stop migrant boat departures from the country, in coordination with the European Commission, the Cypriot official said. He said support is conditional on Lebanon’s effectiveness in stopping migrant boat departures.
Cypriot President Nicos Christodoulides and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen are due to arrive in Beirut on May 2 to discuss the aid package.
The official said smugglers are taking advantage of people’s fears about the ongoing conflicts in the region and are brazenly advertising in Lebanese coffee shops that seats on boats to Cyprus are available for $3,000 per person – Italy That’s a bargain compared to the $7,000 required to travel to.
Cyprus will convene a meeting of other EU countries next month to seek additional support for its initiative to formally re-designate some areas of Syria as safe zones. The Czech Republic and Denmark are behind this idea.
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According to the Cypriot official, doing so would not only mean that Syrians coming from those safe zones would be deported back to their country, but that they would lose any allowances, benefits and the right to work, allowing others to come to Cyprus. Will be discouraged from coming.
He said Denmark is already implementing such a policy and the Cyprus government may consider the measure if arrivals continue to increase.
