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Cyprus: Population Movement - Final Report, DREF n° MDRCY002

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A. SITUATION ANALYSIS

Description of the crisis

When, on 10 May 2021, the Cyprus Government began to gradually revoke the restrictions in movement related to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an unprecedented influx of migrants (350% in comparison to the 2020 respective period) by foot from the non-government-controlled areas, by boat from Turkey and Lebanon, as well as by plane. After a week, the Cyprus Minister of Interior informed the European Union that Cyprus cannot withstand further migration flows and the country entered a state of emergency.

The Reception Centre in Kokkinotrimithia (Pournara) had since November 2020 exceeded its capacity limits, while the country had already been through a series of lockdowns, due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Because of the lockdowns and the subsequent movement restriction, all migrants already in or arriving at the initial Reception Centre got stuck there, until the lifting of some COVID-19 measures in May 2021. Due to the same restrictions, checkpoints between the Government-controlled areas and the non-Government-controlled areas remained closed, therefore any migrants arriving via that route were stuck in non-Government-controlled areas, without the possibility of requesting asylum.

In the months following the Minister’s announcement, there was a minor decline in the numbers of arriving migrants (see Table 1. below), as in previous years since most migrants avoid making their pass during hot summer months. The Government announced the construction of another Reception Centre in Limnes area (Larnaca), with a hosting capacity of 1,000 persons, intended to become operational after September 2021. As expected, the flows of migrants increased after September 2021, and surpassed any previous numbers during winter 2021-2022.

As reflected in the below pie chart, most of the migrants arriving in Cyprus originate from Syria, followed by a large number of migrants of African origin. Most Syrians arriving in Cyprus continued to do so by sea, thus the increase in sea arrivals (37 boats total, out of which 22 boats arrived after August 2021).

The COVID-19 pandemic continued to affect the operational context, with multiple lockdowns during the operation timeframe.