Syrian asylum seekers in Cyprus are waiting up to five years for their applications to be processed, a human rights report revealed on Friday.

In the report, Ombudswoman Maria Stylianou Lottides urged the asylum service to improve its communication with applicants and adhere to legislative requirements regarding information dissemination.

She recommends that the asylum service inform Syrian applicants for international protection affected by delays in the examination of their applications and who have not been informed.

The report further proposes that all affected individuals be duly informed about the state’s new policy regarding the suspension of the examination of applications from Syria.

The Human rights commissioner’s report was prompted by the large number of complaints submitted to the commissioner’s office regarding delays in examining international protection requests from Syria.

Most complaints refer to delays ranging from two to five years, the report said, acknowledging the serious issued that this has caused for the applicants.

Furthermore, the report finds that the interested parties have not received written information from the Asylum Service about the reasons for the delays, as required by relevant legislation and directives. Additionally, they have not been personally informed about the postponement of their application examination beyond the nine-month deadline, nor about the reasons for this postponement.

For new applicants for international protection from Syria, who applied from April 14 this year onwards, the report emphasises the need for relevant information about the state’s new policy and the suspension of the examination of applications.

The report recommends that the Asylum Service take the necessary actions to ensure the right to information according to relevant legislation and directives, both for individual cases mentioned in the report and for all applicants for international protection from Syria affected by delays and not informed. It is also suggested that all affected individuals be duly informed about the state’s new policy.

The report was submitted to the head of the Asylum Service for relevant actions and communicated to the Minister of the Interior for information and potential further actions.

President Nikos Christodoulides had announced in a social media post on April 13 that the government had suspended its processing of asylum claims for applicants of Syrian origin.

This announcement was rationalised two days later to mean that the government would act in this regard to the extent that European Union law will allow, and wait the maximum allowed period of time – 21 months – between the submission of an asylum application and it being examined.

Since then, media reported the number of irregular migrant arrivals has significantly decreased.

According to data from the interior ministry, total arrivals this year (via the north and by sea) until April 13 reached 3,681, a slight increase over the 3,522 in the period January-April 2023. During the same month, the number of returns doubled compared to the same month last year.