& nbsp & nbspΦρίξος Δαλίτης & nbsp; & nbsp;
AKEL is moving in a hard rock line against the Government, raising the tones of criticism very high at an early start of the election campaign. The attacks of the Left party are daily, with the Government being blamed for the hot issues of internal governance. With the Cyprus issue at a standstill, AKEL strikes with the issues of accuracy that affect the daily lives of citizens, whether they concern food, or fuel and taxes. The issue of immigration has been on the agenda of the critics since yesterday, with the Minister of Interior entering the grip of the accusations about the living conditions of minor children in the Pournara reception center. What the Commissioner for Child Protection states in her report provoked the strong reaction of Hezekiah Papaioannou, who with her announcement demands the resignation of the Minister of Interior Nikos Nouris for reasons of correctness. & Nbsp;
The Commissioner's report was immediately commented on by the Secretary General. of the party Stefanos Stefanou, who blasted the Government with his post on social media. Shortly afterwards, an official announcement was made by AKEL for a visit of a party delegation to Pournara. As mentioned, after the position of the Commissioner for the Rights of the Child regarding the living conditions of unaccompanied minors in Pournara, an AKEL delegation will visit today at 10:30 a.m. the area of the Pournara Temporary Accommodation Center. The delegation will be headed by the member of the Politburo of the CoE, MP Aristos Damianou.
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Lottidou: Movement of unaccompanied of minors from Pournara The minors in Pournara also rose up
An announcement was made by Pindarou, in which he scolded the Government for the conditions prevailing in Pournara, calling on Nikos Nouris to resign. “A bottle of water a day. A plain piece of bread for breakfast. A room for fifteen people, where they sleep in pairs on a bed, or on the floor with blankets. Two toilets and a shower for 300 children in Pournara. “These are more than enough reasons to lead the competent Minister to resign not so much for reasons of political correctness, but for reasons of humanity”, states the announcement of AKEL. The announcement also adds that the conditions experienced by the minors in Pournara were repeatedly pointed out to the authorities by Commissioner Michailidou, but without any substantial improvement. “As there has been no improvement, it seems, even after the visit of the Human Rights Committee to the Center, despite the various statements made on the subject in Parliament”, he notes and adds: “It should also be noted that they were granted by the European Union over 4 million euros as emergency funding for Pournara and over 3 million euros specifically for the creation of an open center for unaccompanied minors in the last two years “.
Concluding its announcement, AKEL calls on those responsible “to act immediately to finally end the situation in Pournara, which offends those who still want to be considered people.”
Pindarou's response was particularly sharp, raising his glove at AKEL's reports, noting that the Left party is demanding the resignation of the Interior Minister due to the conditions prevailing at the Pournara hospital. “Conditions that are the unpleasant result of the great increase of immigration pressures that our country is facing and which the Minister of Interior has never hidden under the carpet but is trying to face”, says DISY and adds that in January the president herself The Parliamentary Human Rights Committee, after the Commission's visit to Pournara, had stated that corrective measures had been taken, such as raising the beds and moving people to the center in Menogeia.
“Immigration is at the forefront of issues of concern to the Government and the Democratic Alarm. “What AKEL has to do is to collaborate in a constructive way in addressing the wider problem, abandoning policies that simply lead to even greater migration flows and even greater pressures for our entire society,” DISY concludes.
Criticism of the Government was also strong from the side of the Ecologists, who with their announcement express their intense concern and disappointment, regarding the findings of the Commissioner for the Protection of the Rights of the Child, for the conditions prevailing in the Temporary Accommodation Center Pournara. “In any case, the State has an obligation, first of all, to respect, take care of and implement all the necessary measures to ensure the rights of children, regardless of color and origin. “Especially in the case of refugee children and/or unaccompanied children, the care must be special, and ensure both their protection and their smooth integration into Cypriot society,” said the Ecologists. In conclusion, they call on the Ministry of Interior in cooperation with the Ministry of Social Welfare to assume their responsibilities and to effectively manage the problems faced by these children. “Finally, they must come up with solutions in full agreement with the rights of the child. It is the duty of the benevolent State to deal with the affairs of the children quickly, in a coordinated and humane manner. “
Extraordinary visit & nbsp;
The Human Rights Committee of the Parliament will also make an emergency visit to the Pournara accommodation center next Monday, as announced by its president Irini Charalambidou. “Extraordinaryly, the Human Rights Committee on Monday returns to the inhuman living conditions of the children in Pournara”, the AKEL MP wrote in a post on her personal account on Social Media. It should be noted that the Human Rights Committee visited the Pournara accommodation center two more times, recording the living conditions and receiving, as mentioned, assurances for improvement.
The allegations are non-existent , Nouris answers
The Minister of Interior, Nikos Nouris, speaks about non-existent accusations, responding to the accusations of AKEL, but also to what the Commissioner of Children points out in her report on the unaccompanied minors in Pournara.
“So we want to remind those who systematically, and obviously on purpose, forget, that immigration is a matter for many co-competent Services”, notes the Minister of Interior and adds that the Center can welcome in the safety zone 100 minors with the new improvements that became. “However, due to the increased flows, we took care to create additional spaces in other parts of the Center, so as not to cause children to mix with adults,” he says. He also points out that it can not go unnoticed that the number of minors who arrived in the Republic in the two months of January – February 2021 was only 49, while in the corresponding two months of this year this number tripled to 166.
“Nor can it be ignored that the Asylum Service, which is responsible for completing the procedures for examining the applications of minors, has long completed the procedures for the 214 out of a total of 356 currently residing at the Center,” he said. notes that for feeding three meals are provided in the right quantities, based on the recommendation of AXIT. Regarding the hygienic conditions, Nikos Nouris notes that in the landscaped living area of the minors' zone there are currently 6 built-in toilets and 3 showers, while in the extraordinarily designed additional spaces the minors are guided by the competent officials for the use of public utilities. p>
“We also inform the Commissioner that Pournara is a Center of First Reception and training activities can not operate in it”, he states. & Nbsp;
Finally, Nikos Nouris replies to AKEL that money was indeed allocated for the creation and operation of an Open Center for unaccompanied minors. “This money was given for the period from 17/11/2015 until 16/3/2022 to the Hope for Children Organization. The Center operates and operates in the old town of Nicosia and AKEL friends are welcome to visit it. Regarding the other 4 million for which AKEL is also wondering, these were also given in the context of European support to Cyprus. They concern funds for the period from 1/2/2019 until 31/10/2020 to cover the feeding and operating expenses of Pournara. “All this information was requested from AKEL twice, the first time by the former general secretary, Andros Kyprianou, and has been given in a detailed way”, he concludes.
