Nine unaccompanied minors who left the migrant reception centre earlier this week and were sleeping outdoors were on Friday transferred to facilities of Hope for Children (HFC) CRC Policy Centre.
According to the NGO, following relevant instructions by the social welfare services, the minors, aged 15 and over, will be hosted at the facilities of the charity.
The group of nine belonged to some 30 unaccompanied minors who mid-week choose to leave the temporary reception migrant centre in Kokkinotrimithia, as reports over “appalling” living conditions at the centre emerged in recent days.
“Efforts are underway to ensure their accommodation,” HFC said, adding the charity suggested the minors be placed in apartments and be monitored by the state services and the policy centre.
But unless relevant instructions are provided by the social welfare services, no one is allowed to host the unaccompanied children.
“The minors are under the legal guardianship of the social welfare services, we cannot intervene or decide where they will be hosted unless there is a referral or a request by the social welfare services,” HFC explained.
Some of the underage children returned to the camp, while others remained near Paphos gate, volunteers told the Cyprus Mail.
Their decision to leave Pournara came after a protest by unaccompanied minors on Tuesday, over delays in the examination of their application, which forces them to stay at the centre.
After the protest, the children’s rights commissioner Despo Michaelidou as well as ombudswoman Maria Lottides published a report condemning the poor living conditions and urged the immediate removal of the minors from the facility.
Their reports led Akel MPs to visit the centre on Friday to check the living conditions, while reports of damage at the centre circulated due to strong winds that uprooted trees in certain areas overnight.
A worker within Pournara, who chose to remain anonymous, told the Cyprus Mail the situation with unaccompanied minors is “horrifying” as there are significant delays during the processing of their applications due to understaffing at the relevant departments.
There is currently a backlog of applications with officers from the social welfare services and the reception centre are conducting meetings to address the situation.
“The team handling the applications of minors is compiled by two or three people, while there is significant understaffing at the social welfare services too, leading to children staying at the centre for months,” the source said.
At the same time, there is a blame game among the relevant departments, the source added, citing the interior ministry’s announcement on Thursday which said it was the responsibility of the social welfare services to transfer minors from Pournara.
“They should work together instead of blaming each other, for the benefit of the people,” the worker at Pournara said.
Meanwhile, concerned residents, activists and volunteers who found out the children staying in the streets have been striving to provide for them and other migrants staying at the centre by organising social media donation drives.
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