{"id":12400,"date":"2021-10-05T07:17:29","date_gmt":"2021-10-05T07:17:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.achrights.org\/?p=12400"},"modified":"2021-10-05T07:21:21","modified_gmt":"2021-10-05T07:21:21","slug":"cyprus-no-to-pushbacks-yes-to-family-reunification%e2%80%af%e2%80%af","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/achrights.fr\/en\/2021\/10\/05\/12400\/","title":{"rendered":"CYPRUS: NO TO PUSHBACKS, YES TO FAMILY REUNIFICATION!\u202f\u202f"},"content":{"rendered":"

October 05, 2021
\nACHR along with Euromedrights &its members call on the Republic of Cyprus to immediately end the practice of pushbacks and to facilitate\u202ffamily reunification\u202fprocedures.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

EuroMed Rights<\/a>, KISA<\/a>,\u00a0Access Centre for Human Rights<\/a>, the\u00a0Lebanese Centre for Human Rights<\/a>\u00a0and 12 other partner organisations\u00a0call on the Republic of Cyprus to immediately end the practice of pushbacks,\u202fto facilitate\u202ffamily reunification\u202fprocedures and increases legal pathways and humanitarian corridors\u202fthrough the use of humanitarian visas. We\u202falso call on the Lebanese authorities to immediately halt all deportations of refugees to Syria. We also call upon the European Union to investigate\u202fthe\u202fmisconducts\u202fperpetrated\u202fby Cypriot police and border forces.\u202f<\/span><\/p>\n

Another tragic story in the East Mediterranean<\/strong><\/p>\n

On 22 August 2021, a boat left Lebanon for Cyprus with 69 refugees on board. The Access Centre for Human Rights and KISA interviewed witnesses and it is their testimony which this press statement relies upon. According to these witnesses, Cypriot coast guards\u202fforcefully stopped the boat by throwing an item on its engine and\u202ffor several hours denied food and water to refugees \u2013 including a\u202fman\u202fwith serious health problems,\u202fchildren\u202fand a pregnant woman close to her due date.\u202f\u202f<\/span><\/p>\n

After the destruction of the boat\u2019s engine, several refugees jumped into the sea to swim towards the Cypriot shore. Two of them tried for several hours to avoid the police speedboats that were trying to force them to return back to the boat. One of them was lost at sea and to this day is still missing.<\/span><\/p>\n

After the Cypriot coast guards\u202fpulled the\u202fimmobilised boat far away from the coast, they transferred the pregnant woman to a police boat and she was taken to hospital. The police refused to\u202ftake\u202falong with the woman\u202fher two children (aged 1.5 and 3 years old) and her husband. At the hospital doctors did not admit her since in their assessment she was not ready to give birth. The police then transferred her to a port and gave her a plastic chair. She spent the night laying down on wooden pallets at the port. The next morning, she was transferred back to hospital where she gave birth.\u202f \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On the same day, 23 August, the\u202fCypriot coastguards placed all the individuals on a boat and sent them back to Lebanon \u2013 this included the woman\u2019s husband and children. Three other people on the boat were later deported from Lebanon to Syria where they were held in detention.\u202f\u202f<\/span><\/p>\n

Violations in chain<\/strong><\/p>\n

Since March 2020,\u202funder a controversial agreement with Lebanon which is still to be signed by the Lebanese Parliament,\u202fthe Cypriot authorities have repeatedly resorted to pushing back boats\u202fto\u202fLebanon\u202fand\u202fhave denied individuals access to\u202fthe\u202fasylum procedure.\u202fBy\u202frefusing to offer basic care to refugees, denying \u202fthem entry and pushing \u202fthem back illegally to Lebanon,\u202fCyprus is violating\u202fseveral articles of the European Convention on Human Rights\u202fand\u202fthe 1951 Geneva Convention\u202fon the Status of Refugees, thus contributing to the chain\u202frefoulement\u202fof Syrian refugees to Syria, and putting them at risk of torture,\u202fill-treatment, detention, enforced disappearance and death.\u202f\u202fThis practice must end immediately.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u202fPlease direct any questions or requests for interview to: Maxence Salendre, Communication Team Coordinator \u2013\u00a0msa@euromedrights.net<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\nhttps:\/\/www.achrights.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Cyprus_-no-to-pushbacks-yes-to-family-reunification.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

List of signatories:<\/strong><\/p>\n