13/04/2021 16:10
Uncontrolled immigration poses risks for social stability, the protection of national identity, public order and national stability, Minister of the Interior Nicos Nouris said on Monday.
Speaking during an online discussion on the Republic of Cyprus’ immigration policy, organized by the Cyprus Research Centre KYKEM in cooperation with Agora Dialogue, Nouris said that we all have our share of responsibility for the fact that Cyprus is facing large migration flows. Measures should have been taken a long time ago, he added.
According to the Interior Minister, despite the pandemic, in the last 12 months there has been a “drastic reduction” in the number of political asylum seekers, from 19,000 in 2018 to 7,000 in 2020.
“We need to intensify our efforts” Nouris added. He said, moreover, that the overwhelming majority of those arriving in Cyprus “are not refugees, but economic migrants.” “We don’t have the luxury to continue welcoming all these numbers”, the Minister added.
Loizos Michael, Director of the office of the Interior Minister, said that asylum seekers and those requesting international protection comprise today 4% of Cyprus’ population “a fact which shows that Cyprus has taken a disproportionate share of the immigration crisis.”
Petros Zenios, head of operations of the immigration service at police headquarters, said that in 2017 there were 1,685 irregular migrants, who arrived in the Turkish-occupied part of Cyprus and 976 who arrived in the free areas of the Republic. In 2020 this number rose to 4,857 arrivals in the Turkish-occupied areas and to 883 in the free areas, he added.
The effort is to address the problem at an operational, as well as at a political level, so that we can manage the large number of irregular migrants who are already in Cyprus and will have to be repatriated to their countries of origin, he said.
Pavlina Chatzitheodoulou-Loizidou, head of the Training Department at the Cyprus Pedagogical Institute spoke about the integration of children with an immigration background to Cyprus’ education system. The percentage of foreign children in Lyceums reaches currently 13.58%, 17.96% in Gymnasiums, 18.92% in Primary Schools and 21.53% in Kindergartens, she said.
The percentage of pupils who don’t have Greek as their mother tongue increased in primary schools between 2016 and 2021, Chatzitheodoulou-Loizidou said, noting that from 13.8% in 2016-17, the percentage rose to 15.9% in 2020-2021.
Representatives of local authorities and the organizers also addressed the event.
Related Articles
