Cyprus calls on EU, Lebanon to help combat migration ‘crisis’
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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.
The visit by Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides to Beirut on Monday (April 8) follows his announcement last week that his country faced a migration “crisis”.
More than 2,000 people arrived in Cyprus by sea in the first three months of 2024. In the first few days of April, a further 800 migrants reached the island by boat. Land and sea arrivals combined between January and March of 2024 nearly match the total for 2022 and surpass those of 2023, Kathimerini reported.
Prior to the talks in Beirut, Christodoulides met with the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen. No official statements were made following that meeting, which was held in Athens, but it was said to have focused on ways in which the EU can support Cyprus to prevent migrants from reaching its territory, the Cyprus Mail reported.
What does Cyprus want from Lebanon?
The Cyprus government wants Lebanon’s help to relieve what it calls the “asphyxiating pressure” caused by the number of Syrian arrivals.
On the Cypriot leader’s wish-list is that Lebanon increase border surveillance and control measures – with Cypriot assistance – to prevent migrant departures.
Cyprus media also reported that the government wants clarification about the status of a 2020 bilateral agreement on the return of migrants to Lebanon, which has been disrupted since the conflict in Gaza after the October 7 Hamas attack.
The Cypriot interior minister, Constantinos Ioannou, who is accompanying the president on his visit, has said his government hopes to convey to Lebanon that the European Union is willing to offer more support.
But any aid from the EU is likely to come with the condition that Lebanon stops Syrians from leaving its shores, according to Politico Europe, a German-owned news site.
Interviewed by the British newspaper, The Guardian, Ioannou called for an EU aid package for Lebanon similar to the deal agreed last month with Egypt, which included 200 million euros for managing migration.

Returns to Syria
Cyprus is also continuing to push for the EU to tackle the issue of Syrian refugees by designating parts of Syria as safe for returns: this would enable migrants to be sent back from Lebanon or potentially turned away at the border.
“We are taking concrete steps and demanding from the EU the immediate review of Syria’s legal status, so that the migratory flows to both Lebanon and Cyprus can be reduced,” the speaker of the Cyprus parliament Annita Demetriou was quoted as saying, in a report by Politico.
A statement from the office of Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Monday, as reported by the news agency AFP, pointed to his government’s support for steps to facilitate returns to Syria.
“Lebanon’s army and security forces are doing their best to stop illegal immigration,… but this cannot be achieved without the return of those seeking safety to safe areas in Syria or securing their residency in third countries,” Mikati was quoted as saying in the statement.
Lebanon hosts the largest number of refugees per capita in the world. The government estimates that there are around 1.5 million Syrian refugees sheltering in the country.
A severe socio-economic crisis has pushed more than half of the population below the poverty line, while 9 out of 10 Syrians in Lebanon require humanitarian assistance to meet their basic needs, according to the UN refugee agency UNHCR.
Lebanese authorities have come under scrutiny from human rights groups for deporting Syrian refugees, with migrants said to have faced threats and abuse on their return to Syria.
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