Finally, the ability to attract qualified immigrants will strengthen the competitiveness of the Cypriot economy. Under the current conditions only poor immigrants tend to choose Cyprus as their destination. Furthermore, many immigrants who receive education and develop skills in Cyprus (i.e. in nursing, construction and hotel industry) choose to leave Cyprus for other countries. The importance of new skilled immigrants for the economy is something that many advanced countries such as Canada recognized decades ago. Other industrial nations such as Germany begun to realise this recently, after decades of restricting immigration to guest workers for cheap labour (as Cyprus does today). Both economic and political considerations depend largely on developing a human rights culture on the island.

The Cyprus Action Network is deeply worried with the appearance of mainland Greek ultra-nationalist organizations in Cyprus. Groups such as Hrysi Augi (Golden Dawn) and Laos (Popular Orthodox Rally) have made their appearance on the island. These groups are branches of racist organizations in Greece that have, in the past, targeted immigrants and Leftists in Greece. Members of those groups had strong ties with the Greek Junta that held power in Greece in the period between 1967 and 1974. We fear that if these groups gain support in Cyprus, they will encourage attacks against immigrants on the island.

The Cyprus Action Network invites contributions in the areas of human rights issues related to immigrants and we urge immigrants to write their own personal complaints and experiences to us. We would concentrate on human rights violations of Black Sea Greeks (especially in the district of Paphos), domestic workers, foreign students, etc. An issue of extreme importance is prostitution where severe exploitation of foreign women takes place.

The following articles in the International Press might be helpful to researchers interested in the topic:
Article reporting police brutality against African immigrants (1998)^ix
Article reporting conditions for imprisoned immigrants (2001)^x

Cyprus launched an investigation on Monday into alleged police brutality against a group of mainly African immigrants who staged a riot in a detention centre at the weekend.

"The investigation will look into any possible criminal offence by members of the police," government spokesman Christos Stylianides said, adding that the government was "saddened" by scenes broadcast on television of severe beatings meted out by police.

Television footage showed anti-riot police viciously clubbing, kicking and stomping on African immigrants during a disturbance at their detention cells in the southern city of Larnaca on Friday night.

"When I saw the scenes I was shocked," Foreign Minister Yiannakis Cassoulides said. "I hope this will not be broadcast to the outside world, which is unlikely."

Attorney General Alecos Markides has appointed two people to investigate the police behaviour, saying it appeared they had not used reasonable force against the immigrants.

More than 40 boat people, most of them African males, set fire to blankets on Friday night and refused to leave their cells despite being fired on with tear gas after learning some of them were to be deported.

Ten people including a policeman were injured in the fracas.

The detainees were among more than 100 Arabs and Africans rescued in June after a 10-day ordeal drifting in the Mediterranean with almost no food and water.

"They have proved troublesome and do not want to cooperate with the authorities," Justice Minister Nicos Koshis said of the immigrants.

A number of the boat people have already been repatriated, including four Nigerians deported on Sunday via Lebanon to Nigeria after a Balkan Airways pilot refused to take them to Sofia.

Cyprus now has an estimated 5,000 illegal immigrants, according to press reports.

"We have a serious problem with illegal immigrants and it's a problem we need to contain and solve especially when there are reports of more coming," Koshis said.

Foreigners account for nearly 30 per cent of Cyprus' prison population, a report published in the Weekly Review newspaper said.

The report, published by the European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance, "lambasted Cyprus for failing to check instutional racism and for a growing tendency towards xenophobia on the island," said the English-languauge weekly in its weekend edition. "The report also criticises excessive police brutality against foreigners who enter or stay in Cyprus illegally and are detained for long periods pending deportation," it said.

AKEL MP and human rights activist Eleni Mavrou told the Weekly Review that this was the second report in which Cyprus has been criticised for the way it treats foreigners and prisoners. The first report was released in November 1999.

Referring to the report's references to sexual harassment and the maltreatment of domestic workers, Mavrou noted that the current system "works against the victims instead of supporting and protecting them".

"More often than not they are deported whenever they make serious allegations against their employers," she said, stressing that the powers of the immigration officer need to be "curtailed".

The arbitrary manner in which domestic workers, especially foreign women, are treated was also highlighted by Doros Polydorou of the local immigrants Support Action Group (KISA).

Polydorou cited the case of a woman who was brought to Cyprus as a domestic help but sent back home "because her complexion was darker than her picture had indicated".

He charged that "institutional racism exists at various levels" on the island.

The local media are also targeted for "negative reporting" on immigrants and asylum seekers, which, it says, "contributed to creating an atmosphere of hostility and rejection towards members of minority groups".