Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on what legal grounds her Department has sought to pass responsibility for assessing the claims of refugees arriving at the UK Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus to the government of the Republic of Cyprus.

The Refugee Convention places no obligation on the UK to consider asylum claims made outside its immediate territory. Since 2003, under a Memorandum of Understanding agreed with the Republic of Cyprus, anyone seeking asylum will have their claim processed by the Cypriot authorities on behalf of the The Sovereign Base Area in Cyprus (SBA). The SBA is responsible for payment of any associated costs.