ECHR ruling for Cyprus asylum seekers may embolden refugees in buffer zone

A woman interviewed in the UNHCR’s temporary refugee camp in the buffer zone between Cyprus’s partitioned north and south. Photograph: Kostas Pikoulas/The Guardian

A ruling by the European court of human rights ordering authorities in Cyprus to pay damages to two Syrian refugees found to have been prevented from applying for asylum has been welcomed as a “perfect” victory by campaigners.

Lawyers said Tuesday’s judgment would encourage others to follow suit, including an ever-growing group of asylum seekers stranded in the UN-patrolled buffer zone of the war-split country.