The issue of finding alternative ways of providing care to unaccompanied minor refugees and migrants was discussed on Friday at the meeting of the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Paris by Christiana Errotokritou, Member of the House of Representatives.
As stated in a statement of the Parliament, Mrs. Erootritokritoire, who is a member of the European Parliament, was invited by the Parliament to attend the meeting. Erotokritou stressed that since 2016 the Republic of Cyprus has received more than 1,500 unaccompanied minor refugees and migrants, most of whom are brought to Cyprus from Turkey without the necessary legal documents, which complicates the process of examining asylum applications and puts these people in a particular state of vulnerability, as they are prone to all kinds of exploitation.
It is also noted that in many cases traffickers force migrants to destroy their documents before entering the Republic in order to apply for asylum as minors, practices which further burden the system due to the additional time-consuming procedures to verify the age of applicants, while stressing that the overburdened application processing system and the exhaustion of financial and human resources have a tragic impact on a small country like Cyprus, further limiting the Republic of Cyprus' ability to offer support and protection to those who really need it.
In addition, Ms. Erotokritou underlined the urgent need for financial and logistical support for the Republic of Cyprus, especially with regard to the optimization of the methods of age assessment of unaccompanied refugees and migrants, while at the same time, priority should be given to family reunification requests. Erotokritou that all Council of Europe member states should ensure that unaccompanied minors have unhindered access to care and protection structures, that targeted social services are provided and that a healthy environment is established, which promotes, at all levels, the best interests of the child. /p]
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