UK seeks to deport migrants at Cyprus base

Up to 114 migrants from West Asia staying at a British military base on Cyprus will be deported if they do not claim asylum with Cypriot authorities, British officials said on Monday.

“The options are either claim asylum in Cyprus or the process of deportation will begin,” British Forces Cyprus spokesperson Sean Tully said.

The 28 children, 19 women and 67 men landed at the Akrotiri Royal Air Force Base in two fishing boats on October 21 and were later moved to Dhekelia, the largest of Britain’s two military bases on the Mediterranean resort island.

Britain retained sovereignty over both base areas when Cyprus won independence in 1960.

But “the bases are not a back door to Britain,” Mr Tully said.

The mostly Syrians, Palestinians and Lebanese migrants — who were originally heading for mainland Greece not Cyprus — have been handed a “notification of intention to deport”, Mr Tully said.

“Each individual has an opportunity to challenge this, so we don’t how long this process will take,” he said.

He said the country to which they are deported will be determined during this process.

A handful of the 114 migrants have requested to be voluntarily repatriated to Lebanon rather than stay at the camp which saw disturbances last week due to frustrations over their fate, he said.

Meanwhile, over 400,000 Syrian children living in Turkey are not in school, largely because of financial hardship, a plight which could push more refugees into making a desperate journey to Europe or even returning to their war-torn homeland, Human Rights Watch said in a report on Monday.

It called on the international community and Turkey to act urgently to ensure Syrians who have fled the four-and-a-half year conflict have greater access to education.

“Failing to provide Syrian children with education puts an entire generation at risk,” said Stephanie Gee of HRW’s refugee rights programme.

“With no real hope for a better future, desperate Syrian refugees may end up putting their lives on the line to return to Syria or take dangerous journeys to Europe.”

The UN said last week that it expected up to 600,000 refugees to risk the crossing from Turkey to Greece over the next four months alone.

Financial hardship was a major obstacle preventing Syrian children going to class in Turkey, HRW said.