Probe into allegations of sexual harassment of minors at Pournara camp launched

Interior minister Nicos Nouris said a probe will be launched into reports made at the House human rights committee on Monday regarding the sexual harassment of minors at the Pournara refugee camp in Kokkinotrimithia.

The results of the investigation will be made public, Nouris assured the committee, which was briefed on Monday on the camp’s living conditions and the actions his ministry has taken.

Nouris said a complaint was filed by a member of the UNHCR that visited the Pournara camp last Thursday involving the sexual harassment of three minors by adult residents of the camp while waiting in line for food.

The head of the human rights committee Mariella Aristidou said the UNHCR representative’s complaint also concerned the presence of minors in the camp in the first place, but said the interior minister gave assurances that efforts are already underway for their relocation.

Nouris had told the committee that the camp does not accommodate minors, but those who claim they are unaccompanied minors are placed there until it can be confirmed that they are indeed underage.

But the commissioner for children’s rights Despo Michaelidou said wherever there is any doubt, asylum seekers claiming they are minors should be considered as such and kept separate from adults until checks are made.