Leprince* fled Cameroon for Cyprus, where he landed by plane in 2019. Since then, he has started a family but the living conditions of asylum seekers on the island make their daily life very difficult. The young Cameroonian admits to sometimes "being on the verge of suicide".
Chazel has been in Cyprus for three months. The 24-year-old Congolese asylum seeker is waiting with anguish to be deported. Authorities accuse him of taking part in a riot that broke out in the Pournara camp in October. This is his story.
Cyprus has relocated 48 of a promised 500 asylum seekers to Germany as part of a new EU 'solidarity mechanism'. It was the first relocation between the two member states.
Since the beginning of 2022, the Cypriot authorities say they have repatriated nearly 7,000 migrants from their territory.
The Republic of Cyprus is battling with a migrant influx which is overwhelming the small EU country's resources. Now, a dubious higher education scheme in the north of the island has been found to be among the factors responsible for the trend. Human traffickers meanwhile are lining their pockets with the money of desperate foreigners.
Italy, Malta, Cyprus and Greece sent a joint letter in which they criticize the lack of compliance with agreements by EU member states. Spain makes its own points separately.
Cyprus's Joint Rescue Coordination Center has picked up more than 300 migrants stranded west of Cyprus. The migrants, who were headed for Italy, will be taken to Istanbul.
The head of the European Parliament has expressed concern at the growing number of migrants arriving in Cyprus. Irregular migrants make up more than 5% of the Cypriot population – a record in the EU.
Many migrants come to Cyprus via irregular routes, often lured by people smugglers towards a better life in Europe. InfoMigrants recently met migrants who told us that they were betrayed by smugglers and living a miserable life on the island.
Authorities in Cyprus have reportedly remanded five Syrian nationals on suspicion of trafficking migrants. The arrests came after a police patrol boat picked up 32 Syrian migrants and the alleged traffickers from the sea when they suffered shipwreck.
The number of migrants arriving in the European Union irregularly rose by 86% between January and July compared to the same period last year, the EU border agency Frontex said Friday. The island nation of Cyprus in particular is having to bear the brunt of this trend.
The European Commission has awarded €171 million to Cyprus, Spain, Greece, Italy and Poland to help manage asylum reception and returns. The funds are aimed at easing the burden of migrant arrivals in the border Member States.