22.11.2012. CYPRUS is facing big challenges on
immigration issues as the economic crisis has exacerbated xenophobia on the
island, Ombudswoman Eliza Savvidou said yesterday.
“Despite immigration benefitting the country’s
economy - since we exploited migrants mainly as cheap labour - and despite it
enriching our culture with new, creative elements, traditional Cypriot society
has developed a defensive and xenophobic approach towards migrants,” Eliza
Savvidou told a workshop on the right of migrants in Cyprus to equal treatment
in the workplace, education, health and public services.
Cyprus is currently host to some 180,000
migrants who make up one-fifth of the Republic’s population.
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