Minors on the streets, N. Anastasiadis in Pournara

President Anastasiadis’s visit to the Pournaras asylum facility provoked a report on the miserable living conditions even for minors.

The visit of the President of the Republic of Cyprus Nikos Anastasiadis to the center, 20 kilometers outside Nicosia, was completed with promises for decisions within the day for the huge problems faced by the temporary refugee center “Pournara”. The arrival of President Anastasiadis in Pournara was accompanied this morning by the voices of hundreds of refugees who were huddled in the fence to see him, a few days after the miserable detention of minors in the center led 36 of them to Nicosia to sleep on the streets for the first time. the Cypriot data act of protest.

Staying less than an hour in the center of Pournara, President Anastasiadis spoke with people living there, as well as with the staff of the structure, but also with representatives of FRONTEX, the European Union Asylum Organization (Euaa) and Europol. In his statements during his departure from Pournara, President Anastasiadis highlighted once again the large number of immigrants that Cyprus receives in proportion to its population. “The first impression is the tragedy that is faced by people who have been exploited or are generally looking for better living conditions in their homeland, but at the same time the tragedy that the country faces when almost 5% of our population are politicians asylum, “said Mr. Anastasiadis.

Answering a question on the issue of minors and the revelation made by the Commissioner for the Protection of the Rights of the Child that a child is offered a piece of bread and a bottle of water a day, the President of the Republic said “it is not a piece of bread, you saw “The drink is missing and that’s unthinkable, there is no drink. In my opinion it is a serious omission. We will see it and we will deal with it.”

Bread and a bottle of water

President Anastasiadis’s visit today to Pournara took place after the public statement of the Commissioner for the Protection of the Rights of the Child Despos Michailidou about the living conditions in Pournara. Ms. Michailidou characterized the conditions prevailing in the center especially for children as unacceptable and sad, since as she said “breakfast consisted of only a small piece of bread, without it being accompanied by any drink” and that the afternoon is given to each child a small bottle of water for the whole day “. Regarding the accommodation, Ms. Michailidou recorded in her report miserable and unhealthy conditions, since” in each room live about 15 people, who usually share a bed for two people while some of the 300 children living in Pournara sleep on the floor in blankets. ”

Ms. Michailidou made special reference to the absence of access of Pournara’s children to any form of education, but also to the absence of activities during their many months at the center. Ms. Michailidou’s public statements were not the only ones that demonstrate the tragic situation in which the Pournara hospital has fallen. Last Thursday, Maria Stylianou-Lottidis, Commissioner for Administration and Human Rights, also appointed by President Anastasiadis, spoke on the issue. protection and safeguarding of the rights of the child, requesting the authorities without further delay to launch the procedures for locating or creating structures for the transfer of unaccompanied minors from Pournara.

Juvenile refugees on the streets of Nicosia

The public statement of the Commissioner for the Rights of the Child was made after the decision of about 36 unaccompanied minors to leave Pournara last Wednesday and move to the center of Nicosia seeking refuge in its streets within the city walls. According to the testimony of the Executive Director of the office for Religious Dialogue, which is based in the Salpi Eskijian area, the children gathered outside the Maronite church after a two-hour walk from the outskirts of Nicosia where the center of Pournara is located. In fact, as Ms. Eskijian noted, most children did not even wear shoes. The minors stayed in the cold and rain for a total of two nights receiving clothing and meals from ordinary citizens and nuns who live in the facilities of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Grace.

AKEL reacted strongly to the findings of the Commissioner for the protection of children’s rights, who explicitly demanded the resignation of Interior Minister Nikos Nouris, noting that more than 4 million were granted by the European Union for Pournara and over 3 million euros specifically to create an open center for unaccompanied minors. For his part, however, the Minister of Interior, Nikos Nouris, categorically denied that minors live outside accommodation that has heating and air conditioning, while as he said, 90 minors have been moved to a hotel unit, in an effort to unload the Center.

Loukianos Lyritsas, Nicosia

Source: Deutsche Welle

Source: Capital

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