The way the government handles the issue of immigration causes trends and phenomena of racism among the citizens of the Republic and in particular among small communities. The erroneous and superficial reasoning with which the Republic approaches such a sensitive and humanitarian issue, is also reflected through the day before yesterday. statements by the government spokesman, which reinforced the feeling of xenophobia among society. More or less the government sent the message that the refugees are responsible for all the problems.
They ghettoize areas
Today we bring to light the example of the village of Drousia in Paphos, where now the situation with the increased flow of refugees provokes the reactions of the inhabitants, despite the harmonious coexistence so far. THE significant demographic change, cited by the government spokesman, in the case of Drousia it seems to be maintained by the state itself. According to information from "P", the inability to manage, or rather the deliberate mismanagement of the problem by the competent authorities - Police and Ministry of Interior - maintains the whole situation. As we are informed, the repeated calls for help from the Community Council have fallen on deaf ears. Three letters were requested, addressed to the Police and the Ministry of Interior, to provide assistance in order to avoid demographic change in the community. It is worth noting that the "demographic change" of this community was set as an example in the wide-ranging meeting the day before yesterday. Assistance was requested from the mayor of Drousia and in a private meeting with the Minister of Interior, who was asked for at least a simple check of data in order to verify by the competent authorities who are illegal and who are not. The list held by the Ministry of Interior with the refugees who chose Drousia as their place of residence, includes about 50 people. In fact, the number is unknown even to the residents of the community since, as we have been told, new faces appear in the village every day, without anyone being able to know who is illegal and who is legal.
Schools are changing
Today, The village kindergarten has a total of 13 children, with 11 being from Syria, while 25 are Kypriopoulas and 19 are from Syria. The large and uncontrollable number of Syrian refugees in this small community is inevitable leads families to racist behaviors. According to information given to us, some of the families living in the village chose to enroll their children in the school of Polis Chrysochous so that they do not have daily contact with the children of immigrants.
They are above all children
The statements of the government representative, and especially those concerning the students with immigrant biographies who attend schools, as well as the way in which Nicosia once again seeks to find solutions to the issue of immigration, provoked negative reactions. The most intense of all is that of the Commissioner for the Protection of the Rights of the Child, Despos Michailidou. As he states, the whole structure of the government spokesman's speech, the use of numerical data without explanation or differentiation, intentionally or unintentionally, intensified the concern of the society, the feeling of insecurity, xenophobia and intolerance. A government spokesman declined to comment on whether the figures included included children in the immigrant biography group or just part of it. The term children with an immigrant biography includes a wide and diverse group of children: children of which one parent is a Cypriot, children of mixed marriages, children of investors living in Cyprus, whose parents have a residence and work permit in Cyprus, and of course children asylum seekers, refugee children, unaccompanied children.
politis.com.cy