The US State Department's 2021 report on Human Rights in Cyprus refers to significant human rights issues and refers to the refoulement of asylum seekers and serious acts of governmental "corruption".
At the same time, it notes that in the occupied part of Cyprus there are credible reports of abuse of violence by members of the "security forces".
According to the report, significant human rights issues include what it says are credible reports of substantial interference with the freedom of association of non-governmental organizations, refoulement and mistreatment of asylum seekers, including prolonged arbitrary detention and adverse detention conditions, serious acts of government corruption, and crimes involving violence or threats of violence targeting members of ethnic and minority ethnic groups.
With regard to torture and other degrading treatment or punishment, the report notes that the constitution and the law prohibit such practices. However, it says, there have been reports of police occasionally engaging in abusive tactics and degrading treatment, in some cases to enforce measures taken by the Government to limit the spread of COVID-19. According to press reports and non-governmental organizations, he continued, "members of ethnic and racial minorities were more likely to be subjected to such treatment."
At the same time, the State Department report notes that the Office of the Commissioner for Administration and Human Rights did not receive any complaints of mistreatment and degrading behavior, including allegations of verbal, physical, and sexual abuse, from detainees in the detention centers and the Department of Corrections. The Commissioner noted continued improvement overall in the treatment of prisoners and detainees in prisons and detention centres.
As in previous years, some prisons and detention centres, including detention centres for asylum seekers and migrants whose deportation is pending, were overcrowded. The capacity of the Prisons Department is 543, but the maximum number of detainees during the year was 793, it noted.
NGOs Cyprus Council for Refugees and CARITAS reported satisfactory living conditions at the migrant detention centre in Mennogeia. Unlike in previous years, the NGO Action for Equality, Support, Anti-Racism (KISA) could not visit the Menoyia centre because the Ministry of Interior deleted KISA in December 2020.
Regarding the Pournara reception centre, he says the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) described it as a "de facto detention centre" for asylum seekers. Purnara was designed to house new arrivals for 72 hours while they undergo medical, security and vulnerability checks before being relocated to more permanent housing, it noted. The influx of 20-30 new asylum seekers daily in January, combined with the Interior Minister's de facto no-exit policy "allegedly enacted to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 but, according to UNHCR, was not legal", caused the tripling of the centre's population by mid-November 2020, the Human Rights Report said.
Citing the UNHCR, the report said 1,503 migrants were hosted at the center as of January 13, far exceeding the center's maximum capacity of about 1,000. Some 630 migrants were housed in the main camp and the rest in quarantine areas with floorless tents.
Referring to cases of refoulement, the report noted that media, NGOs and the UNHCR reported that "authorities continued to push back boats carrying irregular migrants, including potential asylum seekers."
"From January to August, the authorities pushed back a total of five boats carrying Syrian nationals towards Lebanon. On May 16, authorities pushed back into Lebanon a boat carrying 56 people. On 25 June they repelled a boat carrying 58 people and on 25 July they repelled a boat carrying 85 people, while the Maritime Police intercepted two boats carrying irregular migrants on 22 August. UNHCR and NGO contacts indicated that both vessels left Lebanon and all persons on board were Syrian nationals," he adds.
On the issue of corruption and lack of transparency in the Government, it says that the law provides for criminal penalties for corruption by officials and that the Government generally implemented the law effectively.
There were, it says, many reports of corruption within the Government during the year. At this point, he refers to the resignation of former Speaker of the House of Representatives Dimitris Syllouris and MP Christakis Tziovanis, following the al-Jazeera network's October 2020 broadcast entitled The Cyprus Papers Undercover, in which, it notes, journalists recorded extensive evidence of corruption related to the passport investment programme.
The report highlights that the Government of the Republic of Cyprus is the only internationally recognised government on the island, but since 1974 the northern part of Cyprus has been run by Turkish Cypriots. The State Department report notes that it does not recognize the "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus" any more than it recognizes any other country other than Turkey. A significant number of Turkish troops remain on the island," while a buffer zone or "Green Line," guarded by a UN peacekeeping force, separates the two sides, it says."
It refers to "elections" in the occupied territories and the rise to power of new Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar, who, it writes, is widely seen as being influenced by Turkish interference.
Regarding the "police" and "Turkish Cypriot security forces", it says that "they are under the operational command of the Turkish Armed Forces, as stipulated by the constitution, which assigns responsibility for public security and defence to Turkey". Turkish Cypriot "authorities" maintained effective control of the security forces, although there were credible reports that members of the security forces abused violence, it adds.
Finally, it notes that, as in previous years, "there were reports of arrests and deportations to Turkey of individuals with alleged links to Fethullah Gulen and his movement."
Source: CNA
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