Παρασκευή, 16 Μαρτίου 2012
Δευτέρα, 19 Δεκεμβρίου 2011
Inside Cyprus’ migrant detention centres (Amnesty International post)
By Giorgos Kosmopoulos, Amnesty International’s Greece and Cyprus campaigner
Hundreds of migrants awaiting deportation from Cyprus are being held for months in squalid conditions with limited access to legal and medical aid.
A few muted rays of light seep through the barred cell windows of block ten of Nicosia’s Central Prison.
Not many miles down the road, a light breeze sweeps over long sandy beaches and tourists wander at their leisure, free to enjoy the fresh air and winter sunshine.
But inside Nicosia’s prison, the air is stuffy and the scruffy walls reverberate with the sounds of heavy doors being slammed shut and shouts from staff and detainees. Arabic music blares out from a television set.
For several years, two wings of the prison have been used as a detention centre for rejected asylum seekers and migrants awaiting deportation.
Up to three people sleep inside the draughty, minute cells. Some of the cell windows are broken and inmates have stuffed pieces of cloth in the gaps to prevent cold air from entering.
At the time of our visit in early December, some 56 migrants are being held in the prison. About 200 migrants – most of them from sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East- are currently detained in Cyprus, a considerable number for such a small island. Even though the application numbers have recently fallen dramatically according to the UNHCR, Cyprus ranked first among 44 reviewed countries as regards asylum applications per inhabitant.
Sitting by a table next to the only window in the room , we meet Osman Kane, a Sierra Leonean migrant who has spent the past eleven months inside block ten of the Nicosia prison.
During Sierra Leone’s decade-long civil war, Osman worked as a chauffeur to the wife of the leader of one of the warring parties, he says.
Because of his job, he was tortured and persecuted by supporters of the opposition, he tells me. He fled the country, and arrived in Cyprus in 2000.
He applied for asylum, but in 2005 his file was closed after the authorities claimed they could not locate him to examine his claim.
During a few short periods of freedom, he was often left destitute and forced to take illegal work.
A few months later he was arrested and a total of five failed deportation attempts took place over the next three years, most of which he spent in detention in block ten.
In August this year, Osman challenged the legality of the length of his detention before the Supreme Court of Cyprus.
He won, and the court ordered his immediate release. He thought he was free at last but before even leaving the court premises he was arrested and detained once again.
His morale and his faith in justice were shattered, he says.
‘’In 2000, I was tricked by smugglers to believe I was safely in a European Union country’’ he adds.
“Now I have been tricked again, this time by the authorities. What is there left for me to do?’’, he asks.
Amnesty International raised its concerns with the Cypriot immigration authorities regarding the legality and the length of his detention already in 2007.
Amnesty International delegates visited three different detention facilities on the island and almost every detainee we talked to, spoke of lack of legal aid, poor conditions and insufficient medical care.
Bawa Kerimu is from Nigeria and has been in block 10 for over four months.
He claims he gradually lost his sight while in detention. The doctors wrote something in Greek on his papers, but he currently receives no adequate medical care, just some eye drops.
He described to me how his eyes swell up; he is often unable to sleep for days on end and moving around feels like torture. During our interview it was evident that he couldn’t really see me, for him I was only a blurry shape asking questions. He now fears that he will be blind for the rest of his life.
Amnesty International is urging the Cypriot authorities to fulfill their international obligations and respect the rights of asylum seekers and migrants.
The organization believes that detaining migrants for deportation should take place only as a last resort and only after other less restrictive alternatives to detention have been explored.
If detention takes place, effective safeguards should be in place and adequate medical care must be ensured. Those who cannot be deported must be released.
Hundreds of migrants awaiting deportation from Cyprus are being held for months in squalid conditions with limited access to legal and medical aid.
A few muted rays of light seep through the barred cell windows of block ten of Nicosia’s Central Prison.
Not many miles down the road, a light breeze sweeps over long sandy beaches and tourists wander at their leisure, free to enjoy the fresh air and winter sunshine.
Nicosia's Central Prison is used as a detention centre for rejected asylum seekers and migrants ©Amnesty International
For several years, two wings of the prison have been used as a detention centre for rejected asylum seekers and migrants awaiting deportation.
Up to three people sleep inside the draughty, minute cells. Some of the cell windows are broken and inmates have stuffed pieces of cloth in the gaps to prevent cold air from entering.
At the time of our visit in early December, some 56 migrants are being held in the prison. About 200 migrants – most of them from sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East- are currently detained in Cyprus, a considerable number for such a small island. Even though the application numbers have recently fallen dramatically according to the UNHCR, Cyprus ranked first among 44 reviewed countries as regards asylum applications per inhabitant.
Sitting by a table next to the only window in the room , we meet Osman Kane, a Sierra Leonean migrant who has spent the past eleven months inside block ten of the Nicosia prison.
During Sierra Leone’s decade-long civil war, Osman worked as a chauffeur to the wife of the leader of one of the warring parties, he says.
Because of his job, he was tortured and persecuted by supporters of the opposition, he tells me. He fled the country, and arrived in Cyprus in 2000.
He applied for asylum, but in 2005 his file was closed after the authorities claimed they could not locate him to examine his claim.
During a few short periods of freedom, he was often left destitute and forced to take illegal work.
A few months later he was arrested and a total of five failed deportation attempts took place over the next three years, most of which he spent in detention in block ten.
In August this year, Osman challenged the legality of the length of his detention before the Supreme Court of Cyprus.
He won, and the court ordered his immediate release. He thought he was free at last but before even leaving the court premises he was arrested and detained once again.
His morale and his faith in justice were shattered, he says.
‘’In 2000, I was tricked by smugglers to believe I was safely in a European Union country’’ he adds.
“Now I have been tricked again, this time by the authorities. What is there left for me to do?’’, he asks.
Amnesty International raised its concerns with the Cypriot immigration authorities regarding the legality and the length of his detention already in 2007.
Amnesty International delegates visited three different detention facilities on the island and almost every detainee we talked to, spoke of lack of legal aid, poor conditions and insufficient medical care.
Bawa Kerimu is from Nigeria and has been in block 10 for over four months.
He claims he gradually lost his sight while in detention. The doctors wrote something in Greek on his papers, but he currently receives no adequate medical care, just some eye drops.
He described to me how his eyes swell up; he is often unable to sleep for days on end and moving around feels like torture. During our interview it was evident that he couldn’t really see me, for him I was only a blurry shape asking questions. He now fears that he will be blind for the rest of his life.
Amnesty International is urging the Cypriot authorities to fulfill their international obligations and respect the rights of asylum seekers and migrants.
The organization believes that detaining migrants for deportation should take place only as a last resort and only after other less restrictive alternatives to detention have been explored.
If detention takes place, effective safeguards should be in place and adequate medical care must be ensured. Those who cannot be deported must be released.
Τρίτη, 25 Οκτωβρίου 2011
Τετάρτη, 14 Σεπτεμβρίου 2011
Human trafficking - Report on Cyprus
The Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) today published its evaluation report on Cyprus to be followed shortly by reports on Austria (on 15 September) and Slovakia (19 September). These three reports constitute the first concrete results of the work of GRETA, which is responsible for monitoring the implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings. The Convention, which entered into force in 2008 is already applicable in 34 countries in Europe. It is open for accession by non-member States.
“The publication of these reports gives me an opportunity to reaffirm the commitment of the Council of Europe to assist governments in eradicating trafficking in human beings”, said the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjørn Jagland. “Every day, across Europe, men, women and children are being traded as a commodity for the purpose of exploitation. With the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, governments have at their disposal a comprehensive tool to fight this modern form of slavery”, he added.
Τρίτη, 30 Αυγούστου 2011
Day of the Disappeared 2011 - ICAED Press Release
30 August 2011 - Today, the International Coalition Against Enforced Disappearances (ICAED) joins the families of the disappeared and the whole international community in giving tribute to the world’s thousands of disappeared people. “ For them and because of them and their suffering families, our Coalition exists to knock at doors of all States urging them to sign, ratify and implement the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (The Convention), ” stated Mary Aileen D. Bacalso, Focal Person of the ICAED and Secretary-General of the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances.
The forty one member-organizations of the ICAED from around the globe are conducting various creative ways of paying homage to the disappeared. In so doing, they reiterate their calls to their respective governments to finally accede to the anti-enforced disappearance Convention and recognize the competence of the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances. It is the body of independent experts that monitors the implementation of the anti-disappearance treaty by States Parties. The ICAED believes that the Convention is a very powerful tool to put to a stop the crime of enforced disappearances and to combat impunity.
To date, 88 States are signatories and 29 are States Parties with only 7 that recognize all the competences of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances. Bacalso further noted that: “ The number of States Parties to the Convention pales in comparison with the global extent of the crime, thus, intensification of campaign and lobbying to garner wide support to the Convention is
imperative. Hence, for States to be true to the universality, indivisibility and indepence of human rights, they must speed up the process of signing and ratifying this important treaty that provides the right to truth and the right not to be subjected to enforced disappearances.”
As the international community commemorates the International Day of the Disappeared, the ICAED vows to intensify its efforts at the national, regional and international levels to concretize its mandate of campaigning for as as many States ratifications as possible and ensure universal implementation of the Convention.
This year is the first United Nations (UN) official commemoration of the International Day of the Disappeared. In 2010, the UN called on its system and other international and regional organizations as well as civil society to observe the Day starting 2011. Recognizing the global magnitude of the crime as reconfirmed by the annual reports of the UN Working Group on
Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, the UN joins the families of the disappeared who have been commemorating this day for already almost three decades.
MARY AILEEN D. BACALSO
Focal Person of the ICAED
c/o Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances
Rooms 310-311 Philippines Social Science Center Bldg.
Commonwealth Ave., Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines
Tel:: 00-63-2-4907862
Telefax: 00-63-2-4546750
Mobile: 00-63-917-792-4058PRESS RELEASE
Πέμπτη, 21 Ιουλίου 2011
Πέμπτη, 23 Ιουνίου 2011
Εγγραφή σε:
Αναρτήσεις (Atom)