Christina Kaili, Project Coordinator at the Mediterranean Institute for Gender Studies (MIGS), says a new trend has appeared in human trafficking since 2010, called “marriages of convenience”. In these cases, women, mainly from European countries, come to Cyprus under false promises of a better life, but the traffickers force them, through violence and threats, or sometimes offers of money, to get married to third country nationals, so that they become European citizens. “It’s a new trend observed in other European countries as well, called ‘wife importing’ ” Kaili notes, adding that it raises concerns and it’s difficult to handle because the ‘groom’ creates a kind of personal relationship with the victim, and because migration and human trafficking laws do not include yet this trend.

Kaili explains that “forced marriages” are not regarded by the Cyprus Law on human trafficking as a form of exploitation. “According to the Immigration Law, ‘marriages of convenience’ take place between a permanent resident of Cyprus and a third country national, in order for the latter to acquire Cyprus citizenship and enjoy benefits offered by the Republic. This definition is problematic because it contains a purely economic aspect. If one examines human trafficking cases in Cyprus, they will observe that it is mostly about forced marriages” Kaili, says, explaining that such cases of human trafficking cannot stand before the court because they are not considered to be a form of exploitation.

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