Migrants stand behind a fence inside a refugee camp in Kokkinotrimithia, outside of the capital Nicosia, Cyprus, February 5, 2021. [Petros Karadjias/AP Photo]
The Cypriot government is set to remove the 14-kilometer-long barbed wire fence along the Green Line, according to a report by Deutsche Welle.
Installed in 2021 to deter migrant flows from Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus, the decision to remove the fence comes after pressure from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
The move signifies a shift in immigration policy, with plans not only to halt the fence’s expansion but to completely dismantle it. Guterres’ report on Cyprus highlighted the fence as an unauthorized obstruction that should be taken down.
Criticism of the fence has also come from within the Cypriot government, with Interior Minister Konstantinos Ioannou calling it “inadequate and politically damaging for Cyprus.”