Lithuania asks UNHCR and IOM to react to the increased flow of third-country irregular migrants from Belarus
On 12 July, the Permanent Representative of Lithuania Ambassador Andrius Krivas sent letters to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Mr. Filippo Grandi and the Director General of the International Organization for Migration Mr. António Vitorino in which he provided detailed information on the increased flow of third-country irregular migrants from Belarus to Lithuania and asked respective organizations to react in accordance with their mandates.
„Lithuanian Government believes that the Belarusian de facto authorities artificially stimulate illegal migration and use it as a political weapon against Lithuania for its principled vocal stance with regard to the multiple unprecedented grave violations of human rights in Belarus“, - the letter states.
This year, the Lithuanian border guards have already detained more than 1800 persons, who illegally crossed the Lithuanian border from Belarus, which compares to just over 80 in all of the previous year.
