Submission to the OHCHR for the upcoming visit of the Working Group on the use of mercenaries to Cyprus

Since 2020, reports allege of private boats being leased to illegally return people on the move arriving on Cypriot shores back to Lebanon, regardless of the country from which they departed.

The vessels Salone, Anamnisis and Ledra Pride have been explicitly mentioned in court documents, news reports and academic literature.

By cross-referencing the vessel tracking data of these three vessels by the NGO Global Fishing Watch with pushback reports, BVMN was able to collect additional evidence corroborating the use of the three vessels in seven pushback operations from Cyprus to Lebanon from 2020 until 2023.

This evidence was submitted to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Working Group on the use of mercenaries, ahead of its visit to Cyprus in January 2025.

The full evidence is available in the attached report.