During the European Migration Forum that took place in Brussels on the 26th and 27th of January 2015, the Executive Director of KISA, Doros Polykarpou, took part in the working group on Integration of Refugees with Mr Makis Polydorou, the Director of the Asylum Office in Cyprus and also recently appointed as acting Director of the Cyprus Civil Registry and Migration Department (TAPM).
Following the introductory speeches of the speakers, which included three Dutch and German speakers who presented good practices of acts of integration of refugees taken in The Netherlands and Germany, the Director of KISA asking for the floor, highlighted the fact that in the Mediterranean countries and particularly in Cyprus the reality is very different due to the following reasons:
• Lack of political will from the Cyprus state to consider and see refugees as equal members of the society;
• The refusal of the society to embrace them as an integral part of it;
• The lowest status of protection granted to most of the refugees by the Cypriot state as opposed to other European countries;
• The Institutional discrimination that the refugees face on a daily basis.
Due to the aforementioned serious problems, the vast majority of refugees are either unwilling to come to Cyprus to submit applications for asylum (e.g. the recently rescued refugees from Syria in Kokkinotrimithia) or either even after securing protection, they try in any way to go to other European countries to obtain a better status of state protection (as an example the stateless Syrian Kurds in front of the Cyprus Ministry of Interior).
The Executive Director of KISA noted that without solving the aforementioned problems it is practically futile talking about good practices and effective ways of integration of the refugees in Cyprus.
After what was stated, the Director of the Cyprus Asylum Office, Civil Registry and Migration Department, taking the floor, unsuccessfully tried to convince the working group that what was previously stated were all lies and a malicious attempt of KISA to defame Cyprus.
His intervention angered not only the other participants but also the very representative of the European Commission who was responsible for chairing the working group which consequently retained appropriate to call him in order and eventually removed his right of speech and further intervention in the discussion.
This simple incident that occurred in a European environment, miles away from this little island, shows and underlines once again the persisting position of the Cypriot authorities and officials in denying the real facts about the situation, the handling and approach that migrants, refugees, asylum seekers etc. face on a daily basis in Cyprus. Stating that all are lies and NGOs are constantly against the government on the issue, is a typical tactic and attitude adopted by authorities in Cyprus in order to put in silence the NGOs and civil society because of not wanting do deal or face the real facts and them. It is a vicious circle that will persist if people as the aforementioned person having key positions in the migration state machine, insist that things are working well and according to the European and International laws and directives without any trace of problems, in Cyprus!
