(Brussels, 15 June 2012)
Hundreds of the men and women who flee to Cyprus each year in search of refuge
and asylum from war, persecution and poverty are being locked away by the
island’s authorities in breach of their international obligations, Amnesty
International has said in a new report, released on 19 June.
Punishment without a crime: Detention of
migrants and asylum-seekers in Cyprus examines the deficiencies in Cypriot law
and practice which result in the violation of the rights of irregular migrants
and asylum-seekers. It calls on the Cypriot authorities to bring the country’s
laws into line with international standards.
‘’Detention shouldn’t be a tool for
regulating migration. The Cypriot authorities are willfully violating
international and European Union law by detaining irregular migrants without
examining alternatives and demonstrating that their detention is indeed
necessary,” said Nicolas Beger, Director of Amnesty International’s
European Institutions Office. “Instead, they’re routinely deprived of their
liberty, for months or years, not because they have committed some crime but
simply to bring about their deportation, even in cases where that’s
impossible.”
Most are detained in poor conditions without access to adequate medical
care and are usually unable to challenge the lawfulness of their detention owing
to the scarcity of free legal aid. The Cypriot authorities often refuse to free
people even when the Supreme Court orders their release.
In mid-June an Amnesty International delegation which revisited Nicosia
Central Prison and Lakatamia saw no improvement in the overcrowded unhygienic
conditions, which were exacerbated by the intense heat.
Some asylum-seekers are detained for the whole time that their applications
are being examined. Some have been deported while their case awaited a ruling by
the Supreme Court. Amnesty International has stressed that every decision to
detain an irregular migrant or asylum-seeker should be automatically and
regularly reviewed on its lawfulness, necessity and proportionality by a court
or similar competent independent and impartial body, accompanied by adequate
provision of legal aid.
(AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL)
