Santos and the failure of the Cypriot State to provide protection and safeguard the rights of unaccompanied minors
Santos arrived in Cyprus on October 2004 as an unaccompanied minor fleeing the Civil War in Congo, after his parents were killed by the state’s army for supporting the rebels.
From October to December 2004, he was arbitrary detained in Larnaca Central Police Station. In December 2004 he was transferred in Kofinou Reception Centre for Asylum Seekers for one year and then to Larnaca Youth Shelter.
In December 2005, the Social Welfare Officer, who according to the Law was supposed to be his guardian took him to a farm unit to work in Vrysoules, between the United Nations Buffer Zone and the British Eastern Sovereign Base Area. There, Santos was working without getting paid for 14-16 hours on a daily basis, without day-off and without the right to get out of the farm because as the employer warned him “he was in a great danger to be shot by the soldiers” in case he leaves the farm.
Santos situation was reported to the police by KISA – Action for Equality, Support, Antiracism. The Police failed to examine his circumstances under the framework of Labour trafficking and the Labour Department was unable to force his “employer” to pay the salaries he owned to Santos.
Santos filed an application for asylum just after he arrived in Cyprus in 2004 and until nowadays he has not yet received a final decision for his application.
