UN refugee agency accuses Cyprus government of pushing asylum seekers into a UN

10/8/2024 7:33

        The United Nations refugee agency on Friday accused government authorities in ethnically divided Cyprus of rounding up dozens of migrants and forcing them back inside a U.N.-controlled buffer zone that they crossed to seek asylum.
        
        UNHCR spokeswoman Emilia Strovolidou said that as many as 99 asylum seekers were "pushed back" into the buffer zone between mid-May and Aug. 8.
        
        The asylum seekers entered the European Union member country from the breakaway Turkish Cypriot north and crossed the buffer zone into the south where they could file their applications with the internationally recognized government.
        
        Of those 99 migrants, 76 people from countries including Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Somalia, Bangladesh, Sudan, Iraq and Gaza remain stranded in two locations inside the buffer zone, to the west and east of the capital Nicosia. They include 18 minors, six of whom are unaccompanied.