2205 people affected in 33 pushbacks by Republic of Cyprus,says BVMN

Since March 2020, at least 33 illegal #pushbacks affecting ​​2205 people at sea have been conducted by the Republic of #Cyprus; the actual number probably far exceeds this, Border Violence Monitoring Network ( (BVMN) says.

BVMN says the #pushback incidents were identified by analysing content from NGO and governmental reports, news articles and social media posts.

“The actual number of pushbacks likely far exceeds our findings as many incidents remain unreported.

“#Cyprus has used the #COVID19 pandemic and a unratified return agreement with #Lebanon as justifications for pushbacks,” it said.

However, it further said that pushbacks are illegal according to the prohibition of “collective expulsion” and the principle of non-refoulement.

“Pushbacks were conducted primarily to #Lebanon, people on the move were either pushed back on vessels of @Cyprus_Police, in some cases in cooperation with #Lebanon, or forced to return by their own means.

” In some pushbacks people on the move were forced to land in North Cyprus, where no asylum system is in place.”

BVMN noted that sources used for this research documented violent and illegal practices by the #Cyprus authorities during the pushback operations, some of which fall under the definition of torture or cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment or punishment.

“The practices mentioned included threats with guns, dangerous manoeuvres (such as creating waves and ramming boats), refusing medical treatment, non-assistance, beatings and administering electric shocks.”

In some cases, it said pushbacks have resulted in chain-refoulement to #Syria, as #Lebanon is implementing a non-readmission policy for Syrians pushed back from #Cyprus.

” The day before the opening of the #Cyprus Pavilion, where this research was mainly conducted, the @Cyprus_Police were yet again conducting five violent #pushbacks to Lebanon with some of the people threatened to be chain-refouled to #Syria.

“We have summarised and visualised the publicly available information of these #pushbacks.”