PERCEPTIONS Country Report – Cyprus

Within the Government of the Republic, border control is the responsibility of the Aliens and Immigration Unit of the Cyprus Police. So far, the Kofinou Reception Center remains the only Government-operated reception center but has been used at maximum capacity in the past two years.- This has resulted in high levels of urban displacement and homelessness faced by newly arrived and even extablished migrants in Cyprus. Regarding integration, the UNHCR and other NGOs have pushed the Cypriot authorities to establish an action plan that is yet to be implemented.

Between the years 2003-2007, Cyprus received asylum seekers from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Ukraine, and Iran due to civil wars and conflicts in these areas, marking the first initial rise in asylum claims in Cyprus. Though there are underlying seeds of xenophobia and racism, these have mostly not yet come to fruition. The rise in the numbers of asylum seekers has captured the attention of the Cypriot local population nationally, this has resulted in local community interest in supporting the newly arrived (UNHCR, 2018b). In March of 2020, the Council of Ministers announced some measures intended to help manage the growing numbers of asylum seekers in Cyprus.