A recent decision by the UK Supreme Court does not resolve the predicament of refugee families residing in limbo for 20 years at the British Bases in Cyprus, according to UNHCR.
Emilia Strovolidou, a UNHCR Public Information Officer, told CNA that the UN agency welcomes the UK Court’s interim judgement that “reaffirms, as a matter of international law, the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol apply to the SBAs.”
However, the Court ruled that the Refugee Convention does not entitle the refugees in the British Sovereign Base Areas (SBAs) in Dhekelia to be resettled in the UK.
The Supreme Court has asked for further submissions in order to make a final judgement.
It is asking for further submissions to consider the legality of the UK’s efforts to discharge its obligations to the respondents under the Convention by arranging for support to be provided to the refugees in the Republic of Cyprus without their consent.
“UNHCR has for many years been encouraging the identification of a permanent solution for the refugees with the concerned parties,” Strovolidou said.
“UNHCR has long been seriously concerned about the plight and precarious situation of this group of refugees,” she added.
She said the SBAs are military areas and not designed for permanent habitation, and hence the refugees had limited access to services like education and health care while on the bases.
“Their rights were curtailed, and they were unable to travel.”
Strovolidou said a 2013 psychological assessment, commissioned by UNHCR, documented the adverse consequences of leaving these refugees and asylum-seekers in this predicament for so long.
UNHCR hopes that once submissions are made to the Court, the matter will be resolved, and a durable solution will be identified for the refugees concerned.
Six families have lived on Dhekelia base since being rescued from an abandoned fishing boat in 1998 and offered temporary shelter in married quarters due for demolition.
In November 2014, the then home secretary, Theresa May, refused the families entry on the grounds they had no strong ties to Britain and could be resettled in Cyprus.
The group, originally from Iraq, Sudan, Ethiopia and Syria, now includes children born at the base, and one woman who was born on the fishing boat after the engine failed and the people smugglers abandoned them in 1998.
They were trying to get from Lebanon to Italy but were instead taken ashore on a part of Cyprus which has sovereign base area status, effectively land retained by Britain when the island gained independence in 1960.
They have refused repeated attempts to persuade or evict them on to Cypriot soil in case it damages their claim for refugee status. The UK government has argued in court that the refugee convention does not apply to the sovereign base areas.
