The issue of the political management of migratory flows was discussed on Thursday by the Parliament's Interior Committee.
In a statement after the session, Deputy Minister of Social Welfare, Anastasia Anthousi, said that in addition to the 700 asylum seekers, who were receiving both benefits and social security, it appeared they had found work and their benefits were being terminated.
She noted that from the checks they will also see whether during the period they were receiving benefits these claimants were also working and receiving social security from their employers.
According to Anastasia Anthousi, these checks are possible since they have made the interconnection of the systems of the Department of Labour and Social Security.
In response to a reporter's remark that there is discontent in the wider population that many migrants are taking advantage of the system, the Deputy Minister of Social Welfare said that from the very first moment the instructions were clear that the people who need this support will receive benefits - as the Ministry is obliged to do -.
However, she noted that people who do not submit and do not fulfill their obligations and people who at this stage - and there is a decision already made - have not registered with the Department of Labour for finding work, the procedures say that within a month of leaving Purnara they will have to register.
He said that a deadline has been given until the end of March that their benefits will be suspended until their registration is completed.
At the same time, he said that "people who have declared a specific address of residence, randomly now social services officers will conduct visits and there and where there is no person or persons, there is a re-suspension of benefits, so that they are forced to appear at the Services to see where they are."
[/P]At the same time, he said that "people who have declared a specific address of residence, randomly now social services officers will conduct visits and where there is no person or persons, there is a re-suspension of benefits, so that they are forced to appear at the Services to see where they are.
Regarding the criticisms the government is receiving about Pournara, Anthousi said that "immigration and the management of asylum seekers is not just about one department, it is about many departments."
She said that the management of Pournara falls under the Asylum Service, to note that her Deputy Ministry is there as guardians of unaccompanied minors to assist the procedures to be completed.
"Our responsibility is to ensure that they live in dignity, but also to guide them within the system when the procedures are completed," Anthousi said.
In relation to the shots she took from MP Domiko Hatzigiannis in relation to whether her temporary policy has changed and has now become a policy of permanence for those who came to Cyprus, Ms. Anthousi said that "until the way of quicker adjudication of the rejection of applications is found and the way of returns is not in the court issues, i.e. when a procedure is completed it should not take two and three years, but immediately there should be the mechanism of returns, I believe that the problem will be solved".
In his statements, DISY MP Kyriakos Hatzigiannis said that Cyprus applies a hospitality policy based on the principles of the rule of law, as the host applicant for political asylum can enjoy welfare, health and education services on the basis of the policy of non-discrimination.
He added, however, that "the industry of production and exploitation of the needs of these people, which operates as a hybrid of the functioning of the state, explodes the demands to astronomical amounts and the exploitation of the state and its procedures. He said that a parastate has been built to exploit and create a bubble in immigration, and cited the example of minors and unaccompanied persons."
He said that a large number of migrants are encouraged to register as minors in order to receive more favourable treatment when their applications are examined.
He also said that "out of 640 minors, after a first examination of the age of those accepting the examination, 30 out of 50 accepted were adults."
Regarding NGOs, Mr. Hatzigiannis said that the role of the legal organizations and not the illegal ones is beneficial and complementary, adding that "the illegal ones cannot have access because their intentions in relation to the human rights of political asylum seekers are unknown."
Asked in relation to an incident that occurred within the Committee between himself and the Chairman of the Committee, Aristos Damianou, he said that it was unacceptable behaviour of the Chairman, as well as his understanding of democracy.
He said that Mr Damianou expelled a Member of Parliament from the room and allowed an illegal person, without institutional status, to argue in favour of rights of his own activity.
On the complaints by Hatzigiannis and Figs about the unacceptable behaviour of the Chair of the Interior Committee, Deputy Chair of the Committee and AKEL MP Marina Nicolaou said she had not seen the statements of her colleagues, however, noted that if they have described the Presidency of the Home Affairs Committee as such, then she invited them to refer to their earlier public statements, during which she said they applauded the way Aristos Damianou conducts the sessions of that Committee.
Source: CNA
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