Cyprus Should Make More Efforts to Protect Migrants - EU Commissioner

European Council Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muiznieks said that the Cypriot authorities are urged to design long-term reception of asylum seekers policies and match them with adequate funding for their implementation.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Cyprus authorities should boost their effort in providing assistance for asylum seekers and victims of economic crisis, European Council Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muiznieks said on Friday.

"The Cypriot authorities are urged to design long-term reception policies and match them with adequate funding for their implementation. I am also concerned by the lack of legal assistance for asylum seekers and the often excessive length of the asylum procedure" Muiznieks said.

There is currently only one reception center for asylum seekers with the capacity of up to 400 people in Cyprus located near the remote village of Kofinou.

The European Union is currently struggling to manage the massive refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of people leaving conflict-torn countries in the Middle East and North Africa and traveling to Europe. Over a million illegal border crossings have been detected by the EU border agency Frontex since the beginning of 2015.