Author
In Cyprus, asylum applicants are not systematically detained. Asylum applicants, who are detained, are, for the most part, persons who have submitted an asylum application after they were arrested and detained under the presumption that all such applications are submitted in order to frustrate the removal process, even where the persons have recently entered the country (see Grounds for Detention). In 2024, there was a rise of cases of implicit withdrawals, following failed attempts of the Cyprus Asylum Service to contact asylum applicants for the interview as part of the examination of the asylum application. As a result, people were arrested and detained due to their irregular stay in the country. In other cases, persons have been arrested for an irregular stay in the country and detained or are detained as a consequence of a criminal law sanction and apply for asylum once they are in prison or detention. However, there is always a small number of persons being arrested soon after arriving in the country, even though they presented themselves to the authorities to apply for asylum.[1]
There is no detention centre for the detention of asylum applicants and asylum applicants can be detained in the Detention Centre Menogia, which is a pre-removal detention centre and the only detention centre currently in the country, with a capacity of 128 persons. Asylum applicants may also be detained in holding cells in Police stations across the country. In 2022, 20 police stations were used for this purpose, in 2023, 22 police stations were used with a total capacity of 194 persons. In 2024, 24 police holding cells were used, with total capacity of 197 persons. Out of those 24 police holding cells, only 10 have outdoor areas, which have a capacity of 174 people.[2] Holding cells should only be used for periods of 48 hours as the conditions do not permit longer stays. However, due to lack of capacity in Menogia, persons are often detained for long periods in holding cells.[3]
Menogia should only be used to detain persons who are in removal procedures. Therefore, persons who have applied for asylum whilst in a holding cell, and while the detention order is issued based on the Refugee Law, should not be transferred to Menogia, although in practice this is not always adhered to. In 2022 the number of asylum applicants detained in Menogia ranged from 20 to 35 whereas in 2023 the number ranged from 8 to 12 persons at any given point. Specifically, in January 2024, there were a total of 119 persons detained in Menogia, out of which approximately 12 were asylum applicants and in December 2024 there were 20 were asylum applicants.[4]
Asylum applicants’ freedom of movement is also restricted while staying in Pournara,[5] and although the duration of stay has been reduced in 2023 and 2024, in comparison to previous years, it is still much longer than the initially planned 72 hours. Moreover, there is no legal basis for the restriction of movement during this time leading to a situation of de facto detention (for details on the conditions in Pournara see Types of accommodation). The CPT considers that placement in Pournara may amount to arbitrary deprivation of liberty, undermining access to basic safeguards against ill-treatment, and could last for an undefined period from several weeks to several months and even longer than a year, leaving detained persons in a state of uncertainty as to how long they would have to wait before release; the situation was worse for minors undergoing age assessments, who on average stayed for more extended periods than the average adult.[6]
[1] Based on observations by the Cyprus Refugee Council.
[2] Information provided by Cyprus Police.
[3] See, CPT, Report to the Government of Cyprus on the visit to Cyprus carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 9 to 17 May 2023, p. 46, available here.
[4] Information provided by the Cyprus Police.
[5] See AIDA Country Report: Cyprus, 2020 Update and 2021 Update for information on extended stay in Pournara during these periods, available here.
[6] CPT, Report to the Government of Cyprus on the visit to Cyprus carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 9 to 17 May 2023, available here.