https://knews.kathimerini.com.cy/en/news/eu-frontline-ministers-talk-migration-in-athens
Cypriot Interior Minister Nicos Nouris is in Athens this weekend where he is attending a MED5 meeting on immigration, with some of the bloc’s Mediterranean members tackling issues stemming from Brussels’ new migration proposals that divide the union...
https://knews.kathimerini.com.cy/en/news/cyprus-scrambles-to-reduce-asylum-backlog
Interior Minister Nicos Nouris says the government is moving forward with rejections of asylum applications under new, faster procedures to clear a system backlog, with Europe seeking a comprehensive solution and a commissioner calling on Cypriot authorities to investigate illegal pushbacks...
https://knews.kathimerini.com.cy/en/news/minister-points-finger-at-north-over-barbwire
Cypriot Interior Minister Nicos Nouris has fired back at critics in the north over the south’s decision to install barbwire near the UN buffer zone to halt illegal crossings, blaming the need for a fence on lack of action on the part of Turkish Cypriot authorities...
https://knews.kathimerini.com.cy/en/news/critics-slam-trump-like-fence-installed-in-nicosia-suburb
The government came under fire on Tuesday over a decision to lay razor wire along a section of the Astromeritis buffer zone in the Nicosia district....
https://knews.kathimerini.com.cy/en/news/cyprus-begins-sealing-porous-frontier
The Republic of Cyprus says a barbwire fence currently being set up along a strip adjacent to the UN buffer zone should not be seen as a border between north and south but a way to hold back undocumented migrants...
https://knews.kathimerini.com.cy/en/news/cyprus-to-push-for-help-from-brussels-on-migration-issue
The Republic of Cyprus will make its case to Brussels and other international fora, both at the political and technocratic level, over migratory pressure and the need for assistance.
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https://knews.kathimerini.com.cy/en/news/brussels-concerned-over-pournara-refugees
The Republic of Cyprus’ handling of asylum seekers at Pournara camp remains on Brussels’ radar, with a host of different challenges raising questions over how the European Union and some member states can get on the same page without resorting to legal battles...
https://knews.kathimerini.com.cy/en/news/pournara-residents-fired-up-about-leaving
More protests took place at Pournara on Wednesday, after asylum seekers with grievances reportedly set a tent on fire while some camp residents managed to leave camp...
https://knews.kathimerini.com.cy/en/news/jordan-supports-cyprus-solution-based-on-un-resolutions-ambassador-says
Jordan’s Ambassador to Cyprus Mohamed El-Fayez affirmed on Tuesday his country’s support for a resolution of the Cyprus Problem on the basis of relevant UN resolutions....
https://knews.kathimerini.com.cy/en/news/asylum-seekers-at-pournara-breach-gate
A group of asylum seekers at Nicosia’s Pournara camp got a brief taste of freedom on Wednesday, after residents breached the front gate during a protest against long-term detention at the migration facility...
https://knews.kathimerini.com.cy/en/news/pournara-residents-protest-harsh-camp-conditions
Asylum seekers living in the Pournara camp located at the outskirts of Nicosia staged a peaceful protest on Monday against the delays in the processing of their applications, as well as against the severe overcrowding and harsh conditions of life in the camp....
https://knews.kathimerini.com.cy/en/news/asylum-seeker-held-at-menoyia-loses-appeal
A man from Sri Lanka, who is being detained at Menoyia for over a year, has lost his appeal at the Supreme Court, which ruled the interior ministry had legal grounds to keep him in prolonged custody because of legal steps taken by the applicant himself...
https://knews.kathimerini.com.cy/en/news/police-lose-state-fraud-case-in-limassol
Defendants in Limassol’s case involving an alleged scam with food stamps and housing vouchers for homeless persons walked free this week, after prosecutors said they were unable to bring witnesses forward to testify in court...
https://knews.kathimerini.com.cy/en/news/decree-bans-additional-asylum-seekers-from-living-in-chloraka
It emerged on Friday that Interior Minister Nicos Nouris issued a decree last month banning additional asylum seekers from establishing permanent residency in the Paphos district village of Chloraka....
https://knews.kathimerini.com.cy/en/news/officials-weigh-in-on-pournara-brawl
Eight tenants at Pournara migration facility were placed under arrest on Tuesday, following a violent brawl on camp grounds that erupted between two groups under circumstances still unclear...
https://knews.kathimerini.com.cy/en/news/violent-brawl-breaks-out-at-pournara
A large-scale violent confrontation between groups of asylum seekers erupted at Pournara camp on Monday night, with police calling for backup and two dozen ending up in the Emergency Room...
https://knews.kathimerini.com.cy/en/news/coast-guard-tows-refugee-boat-to-safety
A boat with Syrian refugees arrived in Cyprus around midnight, with coast guard officials allowing women and children to spend the night at the marina while COVID-19 tests have been ordered on all 55 persons...
https://knews.kathimerini.com.cy/en/news/two-arrested-after-syrian-refugees-reach-shore
Two men have been arrested on suspicion of people smuggling after over a dozen presumptive refugees from Syria reached Cypriot shores late Tuesday night, while there was still concern over overcrowding concerns at a migrant camp outside the capital...
https://knews.kathimerini.com.cy/en/news/syrian-refugees-held-at-police-station
Newly-arrived presumptive refugees were on standby this week, after reports said they were taken to a police station in Famagusta district due to overcrowding conditions at a migrant reception centre in rural Nicosia...
https://knews.kathimerini.com.cy/en/news/cyprus-migrant-camp-way-over-capacity
The overcrowding situation with refugees and asylum seekers at Pournara camp was back in the news, following an unannounced visit by the state’s Ombudswoman who said she saw some improvements but also some problems still not being addressed such as the right to move freely out of the camp...
https://knews.kathimerini.com.cy/en/news/interior-ministry-rents-apartment-building-to-house-asylum-seekers
The interior ministry said Wednesday that it will be renting an apartment building to house asylum seekers who have been left stranded in the streets in recent weeks as a result of the Pournara migrant camp reaching full capacity, with the apartments to be ready by Thursday....
https://knews.kathimerini.com.cy/en/news/eu-greece-sign-agreement-for-new-migrant-center-on-lesvos
The European Commission on Thursday signed a memorandum outlining a detailed plan agreed by Greek authorities and EU agencies to establish a new, up-to-standard reception center on the island of Lesvos by early September 2021. This is a key step in resolving the situation following the fires that destroyed the Moria camp in September. It is the result of the work of European Taskforce that was created at that time....
https://knews.kathimerini.com.cy/en/news/council-of-europe-report-critical-of-greece-s-migrant-pushbacks-detention-conditions
A Council of Europe report, released Thursday, calls on Greece to stop pushbacks of migrants and calls out the country on the conditions in several migrant detention centers....
https://knews.kathimerini.com.cy/en/news/systems-tested-by-slaughterhouse-outbreak
A company that owns a slaughterhouse in rural Nicosia has until Monday to explain how 79 people were found working without proper authorization, following a coronavirus outbreak on the premises and days after the firm hinted that government officials were supplying asylum seekers for manual labour through backchannels...
https://knews.kathimerini.com.cy/en/news/roadblocks-as-cyprus-cuts-off-districts
Police say officers will man random checkpoints in Limassol and Paphos districts, both which have been ordered essentially isolated from the rest of the island, following new strict measures to combat a second wave of the coronavirus...
https://knews.kathimerini.com.cy/en/news/spanish-fm-stresses-solidarity-with-cyprus-importance-of-dialogue
Spain’s Foreign Affairs Minister Arancha González Laya expressed her country’s solidarity and support for Cyprus in the face of tensions with Turkey in the Eastern Mediterranean....
https://knews.kathimerini.com.cy/en/news/divided-europe-seeks-to-overhaul-defunct-migration-policies
The European Union's executive proposed on Wednesday overhauling the bloc's broken migration and asylum rules, seeking to end years of feuds and bitterness over the many people fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East and Africa....
https://knews.kathimerini.com.cy/en/news/coronavirus-measures-bring-sharp-drop-in-eu-asylum-applications
First-time asylum applicants in the EU recorded a sharp drop of almost 70% during the second quarter of 2020, mainly as a result of coronavirus emergency measures imposed by member states from March, Eurostat figures showed Wednesday....
https://knews.kathimerini.com.cy/en/news/nearly-100-asylum-seekers-flown-out-of-cyprus
Fourteen unaccompanied minors have been transferred from the Republic of Cyprus to Finland, while another 84 foreign nationals were flown back to their countries in what the government described as ‘voluntary returns'...
https://knews.kathimerini.com.cy/en/news/parliament-passes-bills-to-streamline-asylum-procedures
The House on Friday passed three amendments to the Refugee Law, streamlining asylum procedures....
