UN refugee agency UNHCR says the number of migrants arriving by sea in Cyprus, Italy, Greece and Malta has declined by nearly 73 per cent this year as a result of tighter border controls, which include forced repatriation of those intercepted at sea.
The agency criticised the European Union’s policy on stemming the flow of migrants through the Mediterranean Sea, claiming Brussels was denying genuine asylum seekers the protection they need.
According to UNHCR statistics, a total of 8,800 people arrived by sea with two thirds of having landed in Greece, while a third were in Italy, and the rest in Cyprus and Malta.
However, the head of the UNHCR in Nicosia, Nasr Ishak told the Cyprus Mail that almost all sea arrivals landed in the occupied areas and then crossed the Green Line into the Republic to make asylum applications.
“There aren’t and there have not been arrivals from the sea from the Republic of Cyprus because the smugglers know this would be very difficult, so they always come via the northern areas.”
Ishak added that approximately 200 asylum applications are made in Cyprus every month, with only a quarter to 20 percent being recognised.
UNHCR spokesperson Andrej Mahecic warned that the EU policy of stemming sea arrivals was not solving the illegal migration problem but shifting it elsewhere.
“Our concern is that in its efforts to stem illegal migration, Europe should not forget that among those seeking to enter the EU are people who need international protection and are at risk of their lives. UNHCR recognizes the need for border management, but this must be protection-sensitive.”
He said the situation of migrants arriving in Greece was particularly bleak, with those intercepted having little chance of having their claim for refugee status properly assessed.
“Border control policies that indiscriminately block arrivals encourage those seeking asylum to resort to ever riskier and more desperate routes to safety - a reason why growing numbers of asylum seekers today find themselves in the hands of people smuggling rings,” Mahecic added.
The agency also highlighted a sharp rise in overland arrivals in north-eastern Greece via Turkey, with 40,000 people having tried to enter the region this year, compared with only about 8,000 in the same period in 2009.
Albanians form the main group of immigrants trying to enter Greece.
The EU has so far made no public response to the UNHCR's criticism.
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