The community advocacy group Syrians in Cyprus on Tuesday expressed concerns about the “tight” timeline set out in the government’s new voluntary repatriation plan for Syrian nationals who have claimed asylum in Cyprus.

“The three-month period for receiving applications for inclusion in the programme sets a tight timeline for making decisions which substantially affect the lives of families, especially children, and activates a ‘fear of missing out’ – that is that they will miss a unique opportunity if they do not seize the moment,” the group said.

It added that it “welcomes initiatives which facilitate returns to Syria for those who choose voluntary repatriation” but stressed that “such returns must be fully informed and must take place on a fully voluntary basis”.

This, it said, must mean that repatriations are carried out “without direct or indirect coercion, either as a form of ‘buy off’, or due to an impulse or desperation”.

The plan is aimed primarily at families, foresees that asylum seekers will withdraw their asylum claim and those already in receipt of asylum will renounce their international protection, with one spouse in each couple given a two-year work visa, which may be extended for an additional year.

The rest of the family will depart the island and be given financial incentives amounting to €2,000 for the spouse who will return to Syria and €1,000 for every dependent child.

Applications for inclusion into the plan are only open until August 31, meaning that those who may be considering returning to Cyprus under the plan only have three months to decide whether or not to do so.

Earlier, the Cyprus refugee council had raised concerns about the plan to the Cyprus Mail, saying that “promoting return at this point, specifically targeting women and children, without even carrying-out assessments on the conditions they will be returning to violates the best interest of the children and will place many of them in precarious situations”.

“After 14 years of war, a country cannot be functional within a few months,” it added.

Last month, the European Union lifted all economic sanctions on Syria, with the exception of a small number which it said are “based on security grounds”.

The EU’s foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas said at the time that “this decision is simply the right thing to do, at this historic time, for the EU to genuinely support Syria’s recovery and a political transition which fulfils the aspirations of all Syrians”.

Earlier, Cypriot Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos had promised that the Syrian people “can be sure that Cyprus will be by their side” ahead of the sanctions’ lifting.

“Our goal is to ensure that the Syrian people will have the support they need … which comes with the conditionality which is an integral part of such a process,” he said.