1/ Is a perfect #migration storm brewing in #Cyprus ahead of #EUElections? A 🧵: To cite J.L. De Brouwer @EgmontInstitute, a significant incident could catapult the salience of #migration back to the forefront. This relativizes findings of CEPS researchers on polarization.
Policy-making on immigration and asylum is often motivated by prevailing public attitudes. At the same time, public opinion can be shaped by how political actors frame the issues and challenges at hand. Since the onset
So: are we moving towards such a significant migration incident? #Cyprus is 220 km off #Lebanon, a historical refuge for #Palestianians that also welcomed 1.5 million #Syrian refugees since '11. Lebanon hosts the most refugees/capita in the world:
2/ So: are we moving towards such a significant migration incident? #Cyprus is 220 km off #Lebanon, a historical refuge for #Palestianians that also welcomed 1.5 million #Syrian refugees since '11. Lebanon hosts the most refugees/capita in the world.
3/ A.o. pol. instability, #inflation esp. on food & catastrophes such as the 2020 Beirut port explosion led to deteriorating living conditions, growing hostility towards refugees and pushbacks to Syria. The escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has a huge impact on #Lebanon and refugees.
4/ The situation in #Lebanon has been driving increasing numbers of refugees to leave and seek refuge elsewhere. The first destination is #Cyprus because, well, geography: Lebanon borders #Israel and #Syria.
5/ #Cyprus is divided and the government of the Republic of Cyprus, member state of the #EU has no control over the north, where most boats arrive. Geography and geopolitics make #Cyprus the EU country with the highest number of asylum applications per capita.
A high percentage of asylum seekers enter Cyprus from the areas not controlled by the RoC, in the north of the island, and then cross the “green line”/no-man’s land, in an irregular manner to the area...
8/ #Cyprus is one of the #Med5 countries that accepted to shoulder the bulk of #screening and #BorderProcessing in exchange for EU-wide #solidarity mechanisms under the reformed #CEAS – the #Pact on Migration and Asylum set of regulations are to be adopted this month by @Europarl
10/ The #EU announced an agreement with #Lebanon for more #aid if it stops the boats. Cooperating to restore durable solutions for refugees is important, but this deal is unlikely to decrease arrivals in #Cyprus.
11/ 3 reasons a 🇪🇺-🇱🇧 will probably not decrease arrival numbers:
❌unstable gvt without sufficient control
❌No aid-based quick fix for the scale of domestic problems
❌Supporting border control capacities tends to backfire into more democratic backsliding, more repressive violence and more migration
12/ Unlike #Greece or #Italy, #Cyprus does not have a mainland to relocate refugees to in order to decrease pressure. Now is the time for #EU member states to demonstrate that they are dedicated to their commitment to #solidarity. Otherwise the #Pact may be dead before it is law.
EU commissioner Margaritis Schinas said on Friday that the European Union could strike a deal with Lebanon to stem arrivals of migrants, as Cyprus complained it was being inundated by a surge in arrivals from the Middle East.
The EU is ready to offer extra support to Cyprus as the Mediterranean island faces a sharp increase in refugees arriving from Lebanon, a spokesperson for the EU executive told reporters on Thursday (4 April).
Some 2,004 people arrived in Cyprus by sea in the first three months of this year, compared to just 78 in the same period of 2023, according to official data.
A group of more than 100 Syrian migrants who were rescued off Cyprus after departing from Lebanon have been caught up in a dispute between the two countries. Lebanon has refused to take back the group, despite a controversial agreement on returns.
A Cypriot law enforcement vessel was off the coast of Lebanon on Wednesday amid reports Cyprus was beefing up efforts to prevent Syrian refugees reaching the island on small boats.
The president of Cyprus has traveled to Lebanon to discuss the situation of migrants arriving on the island. The number of Syrian refugees reaching Cyprus is at a record high.
Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides told a German media group on Sunday that his country wants to help broker talks between the EU and Lebanon planned for May 2. The aim is to offer Lebanon a financial package and help create stability and manage migration.
Safe, Voluntary, and Dignified Return for Syrian Refugees from Lebanon: A synthesis of ideas and ways forward discussed at a migration policy roundtable in Beirut
Countries: Lebanon, Syrian Arab Republic
Source: United Nations University
Please refer to the attached file.
Jasmin Lilian Diab and Heaven Crawley
Introduction
With an estimated 1.5 million Syrian refugees within its borders, Lebanon hosts the highest proportion of refugees worldwide. Refugees and hosts alike have been forced into extreme poverty and higher protection risks as a result of the nation’s escalating socio-economic crisis. The Government of Lebanon stated in 2022 that it would send 15,000 Syrian refugees home to their country each month, insisting that Syria was now safe for return, and also willing to welcome refugees back. Human rights organizations, however, continue to gather evidence on Syrians being arbitrarily arrested, subjected to sexual assault, forcibly disappeared, and tortured upon returning home. Testimonies from Syrians confirm this.
In a context where the issue of return has become deeply politicized, it is essential that we consider how the repatriation of Syrian refugees from Lebanon should proceed, paying close attention to protection principles and prerequisites for safe return, while also taking into consideration broader discussions about Lebanon’s approach to repatriation, the position of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and its role, as well as regional and global discussions on how return can become durable and sustainable. With this in mind, UNU-CPR and the Institute for Migration Studies at the Lebanese American University convened a migration policy roundtable in Beirut to explore these issues in more detail and identify concrete ways forward for policy and practice.
Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides will head to Lebanon on Monday for talks on migration after the Mediterranean island declared a crisis on refugee flows.
Cyprus’ President Nikos Christodoulides says the EU is willing to give Lebanon more money to cope with the huge number of refugees it hosts, but “for this thing to happen, Lebanon shouldn’t allow migrants to leave and come to Cyprus.” www.stripes.com/theaters/eur...
Cyprus’ President Nikos Christodoulides says the EU is willing to give Lebanon more money to cope with the huge number of refugees it hosts, but “for this thing to happen, Lebanon shouldn’t allow migr...
#Pullbacks with escort: #Cyprus wants to station a patrol ship for migration defence in #Beirut and donate 12 more ships and boats to the military in #Lebanon. The EU state also wants to pay salaries of Lebanese soldiers if they counter migration. digit.site36.net/2023/11/02/p...
#Pullbacks with escort: #Cyprus wants to station a patrol ship for migration defence in #Beirut and donate 12 more ships and boats to the military in #Lebanon. The EU state also wants to pay salaries of Lebanese soldiers if they counter migration. digit.site36.net/2023/11/02/p...
Cyprus wants to donate ships and boats to Lebanon to carry out joint sea patrols against migration. The EU island state could also pay the salaries of Lebanese soldiers for this purpose. Cyprus wants ...
MEPs to vote on divisive migration policy in ‘big moment for Europe’ www.theguardian.com/world/2024/a...
Greens: “a significant backsliding for the rights of refugees” and are “full of legal inconsistencies that will inevitably lead to fundamental rights violations”
The Lebanese caretaker prime minister and the Cypriot president are calling on the European Union to provide financial support to help cash-strapped Lebanon stop migrants from reaching European shores.
How one is responding to the genocide of over 2 million people, is a good indicator of how that person will feel about the now unavoidable mass migration of millions of climate change refugees.
If one is indifferent or even hostile towards Palestinians, they will probably also be towards refugees.
The new European Migration and Asylum Pact seems a good opportunity to share some of the cartoons I've done about the EU and refugees in the last few years.
not to mention that many countries in the middle east have been taking on huge amounts of Syrian, Iraqi & Yemeni refugees for years (and to a far greater extent than EU/NA countries) - Lebanon for e.g., hosts the largest number of refugees in the world/capita
Following Pakistan's announcement of the October 31 deadline, a significant migration surge has occurred along the porous Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Official statistics indicate approximately 4.4 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan, with 1.7 million lacking registration.
👏 www.n-tv.de/politik/Finn...
Flow of refugees from #Russia#Finland is tightening its migration policy
Helsinki accuses Moscow of deliberately smuggling refugees to the border in order to trigger a migration crisis in Finland. The center-right government responded by announcing that it -
ALT⬇️
It’s interesting that illegal migration is a tiny proportion of total migration and most of that is perfectly legal migration from countries we now have treaties with because of Brexit. Of course Tories are frothing at the mouth. This isn’t the Brexit they voted for
I concur that escalating the conflict to the point that Lebanon gets involved is a Very Bad Thing. Lebanon's economy is barely functioning as is, and the hosts the highest per-capita number of refugees. 1.5m of 6m are refugees, 25%!
On a personal note, I have people on the ground there...
if Lebanon actually enters the conflict officially we might all be so fucking cooked and like I know thats why Israel keeps escalating but also could they please, like, stop doing that
New in the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies: we find that telling people that refugees have access to welfare makes them a bit less open to refugee migration, but only a bit, and it's mostly driven by people who didn't like migration in the first place. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
