Vilnius, 27 April 2023 (GNP): On Tuesday, Lithuanian Parliament passed a bill to not grant acceptance to asylum seekers by legalizing the Migrant pushbacks. It is the EU member’s most recent attempt to halt illegal immigration from Belarus, surprising advocates for human rights.
Since 2021, when thousands of migrants and refugees, mostly from the Middle East and Africa, started seeking entry into the European Union through Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland, the Baltic state has been active in migrant pushbacks.
In response to international sanctions imposed against Minsk, the capital of Belarus, the EU claimed that the inflow was a “hybrid attack” planned by the Belarusian government.
Since then, fewer attempts have been made to cross the border, but Lithuanian border guards continue to carry out migrant pushbacks by turning away hundreds of asylum seekers daily.
Agne Bilotaite, the Lithuanian Interior Minister, told the press: “When it comes to national security and human rights, there are no easy solutions, but also there are no alternatives”.
“Our country must defend itself,” she added.
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She said referring to the migrants that “They are immoral, they endanger the life and health of the people trying to enter”.
Asserting that “possible new (migrant) flows” were under consideration, Bilotaite claimed the government had information that Belarus was discussing new direct aircraft routes with Iran and Iraq to Minsk. “We have to be ready and we need instruments,” she said.
Amnesty International issued a warning last week that the bill will “green-light torture.”
The president has yet to approve the bill, and activists suggested they would request a veto.
According to the head of the Lithuanian Center for Human Rights, Jurate Juskaite, “These amendments are against both international law and our own commitments.”
To combat illegal immigration, Lithuania completed the construction of a four-meter blade-wire fence along its border with Belarus last year. While the total boundary is around 700 kilometers, the fence is only about 550 kilometers long.
