07/10/2011 13:12
The number of illegal immigrants from the occupied areas has dropped, Interior Minister, Neoclis Silikiotis stated on Thursday.
Mr. Silikiotis was speaking during the International Conference on Asylum and Migration organized in Nicosia. The conference was co-organized by the European Parliament Offices in Cyprus, Malta and Greece and the PIO.
It is the third of the three conferences co-organized by the Offices above on asylum and migration. The first was held in Valetta in June and the second in Rhodes in September.
In his speech, the Interior Minister said that Turkey is a country the ground of which is systematically used for the trafficking of illegal migrants both in Cyprus and other member states and as in most other issues, it has been proved to be a devious neighbour.
“Unfortunately, this country refuses to sign the agreement, therefore, during the recent Council of Ministers in Brussels two weeks ago, I urged the commission to show more courage and to convince Turkey to consent to the agreed text”, he noted.
In relation to the migrants, he said that the pending cases in the Asylum Service in July 2011 dropped to 909, when in 2005 they stood at 11,500.
The appeals in the Refugee Review Authority until June 2011 stood at 1,703, when in 2009 they reached 3,507.
At the same time, Mr. Silikiotis said that the inflow of illegal immigrants from the occupied areas has been reduced gradually and from January to August 2011, only 427 people entered the free areas, 276 of who had submitted an application for asylum.
“Indicatively, I say that the number of illegal immigrants who entered the free areas from the occupied north in 2008 was 5,198 persons. Certainly, we all understand that possession is a constant threat to our internal security and a potential risk to the inflow of illegal immigrants to the free areas”, he said.
In his welcome speech, Head of the European Parliament Office in Cyprus, Tasos Georgiou said that Cyprus and other Mediterranean countries such as Greece and Malta are receiving greater migratory pressure.
“This creates the dire need to support those member states in their effort to handle the issue and the concerns of their own citizens, which have been intensified due to the financial crisis”, he stressed.
In her own welcome speech, IPO Director, Eleonora Gavrielides said that the migration issues are of great importance for the EU and the political and social instability in the Arabic world together with the financial crisis is fueling the mechanism of migration with many unpleasant consequences, such as the rise of racism and violation of human rights.
The Ombudsman welcomed the positive developments that have to do with the simplification of the procedures for the settlement of the asylum seekers and the acceleration of the mechanisms in the examination of applications. “However, we should not forget that those measures focus on the asylum seekers and do not protect the potential applicants”, she said.
Mr. Silikiotis was speaking during the International Conference on Asylum and Migration organized in Nicosia. The conference was co-organized by the European Parliament Offices in Cyprus, Malta and Greece and the PIO.
It is the third of the three conferences co-organized by the Offices above on asylum and migration. The first was held in Valetta in June and the second in Rhodes in September.
In his speech, the Interior Minister said that Turkey is a country the ground of which is systematically used for the trafficking of illegal migrants both in Cyprus and other member states and as in most other issues, it has been proved to be a devious neighbour.
“Unfortunately, this country refuses to sign the agreement, therefore, during the recent Council of Ministers in Brussels two weeks ago, I urged the commission to show more courage and to convince Turkey to consent to the agreed text”, he noted.
In relation to the migrants, he said that the pending cases in the Asylum Service in July 2011 dropped to 909, when in 2005 they stood at 11,500.
The appeals in the Refugee Review Authority until June 2011 stood at 1,703, when in 2009 they reached 3,507.
At the same time, Mr. Silikiotis said that the inflow of illegal immigrants from the occupied areas has been reduced gradually and from January to August 2011, only 427 people entered the free areas, 276 of who had submitted an application for asylum.
“Indicatively, I say that the number of illegal immigrants who entered the free areas from the occupied north in 2008 was 5,198 persons. Certainly, we all understand that possession is a constant threat to our internal security and a potential risk to the inflow of illegal immigrants to the free areas”, he said.
In his welcome speech, Head of the European Parliament Office in Cyprus, Tasos Georgiou said that Cyprus and other Mediterranean countries such as Greece and Malta are receiving greater migratory pressure.
“This creates the dire need to support those member states in their effort to handle the issue and the concerns of their own citizens, which have been intensified due to the financial crisis”, he stressed.
In her own welcome speech, IPO Director, Eleonora Gavrielides said that the migration issues are of great importance for the EU and the political and social instability in the Arabic world together with the financial crisis is fueling the mechanism of migration with many unpleasant consequences, such as the rise of racism and violation of human rights.
The Ombudsman welcomed the positive developments that have to do with the simplification of the procedures for the settlement of the asylum seekers and the acceleration of the mechanisms in the examination of applications. “However, we should not forget that those measures focus on the asylum seekers and do not protect the potential applicants”, she said.
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