AYS Daily Digest 14/07/21: A Political Battle on the Lithuanian-Belarussian Border
By: Are You Syrious
Tags: Migration, Digest, Borders, Refugees, Pushbacks

AYS Daily Digest 14/07/21: A Political Battle on the Lithuanian-Belarussian Border

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FEATURE — In political war, Lithuania and Belarus use people on the move as pawns

Lithuania has erected a 550-kilometer razor wire on its Belarussian border to keep people from entering the country. (Source: Reuters)

In the midst of a political spat with its neighbor Belarus, the parliament of the Baltic state of Lithuania has passed a draconian law allowing for the mass detention of people on the move in the country. Over the past week, hundreds of people from the Middle East and Asia have entered Lithuania from Belarus.

We have seen this terrible tactic played out time and time again over the years: in critical moments of tension, two countries with histories of animosities using human bodies as pawns to exert political pressure on one another. Back in March 2020, for example, Turkey announced it was ‘opening the borders’ to Greece, causing thousands of people on the move to head to the Turkey-Greece land border. The border, it turned out, was not opened, and many people remained stuck for days in a no-man’s-land area, their lives uprooted and their dreams quashed once again.

Now, a somewhat similar situation is playing out in an entirely different part of Europe, and not along a well-trodden transit route. Over the past week, as we reported in a recent digest, hundreds of people seeking safety in Western Europe have come through an unlikely entry: the Lithuanian-Belarussian border. While there certainly have been people on the move transiting through this area for quite some time, it is relatively rare to speak to someone who has made it to the West through this route.

What seems to be happening along this border now boils down to politics. Lithuania is accusing Belarus of flying people to its capital, Minsk, and arranging for their journeys to Lithuania, an accusation Belarus denies, according to media reports.

Belarus has come under increasing criticism from the international community following massive protests last year following the re-election of Alexander Lukashenko in what is widely agreed upon to be a rigged vote. Since then, the regime of ‘Europe’s last dictatorship’ has been cracking down on civil society in the country, jailing journalists, activists and ordinary protestors. Lithuania is one of Belarus’ chief critics.

Regardless of the surrounding politics, in the last week or so, hundreds of people have crossed from Belarus into Lithuania, and the latter country was quick to react harshly. However, as recent events have shown, those at the receiving end of Lithuania’s clampdown are the people on the move themselves.

Lithuania has begun to build a border fence along its border with Belarus. But it gets worse, actually. On Tuesday, July 13, the Lithuanian parliament voted in favor of a new law that will allow for the mass detention of people on the move in the country. Some 84 members of the 141-seat Parliament said ‘yes’ to the legislation that will prevent the release of any person on the move from detention for six months after their arrival in Lithuania. Six months.

The law will also severely restrict the right of appeal for those whose asylum claims have been rejected, and says that people can be deported while their appeals are being reviewed.

“The law is a potential human rights violation, and it does not correspond to EU directives,” Lithuanian Red Cross program director Egle Samuchovaite told media.

“It enshrines the current bad situation in Lithuania’s detention centers in law and leaves vulnerable people in an even more vulnerable situation.”

In Brussels, Lithuania’s foreign minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis had a meeting with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell in which they agreed that Belarus was using people on the move as a “weapon”.

“When refugees are used as a political weapon…I will talk to my colleagues in order for the European Union to have a common strategy,” Landsbergis said in Brussels.

Landsbergis is correct that people should absolutely not be used as political weapons, but the response of the Lithuanian parliament is deeply, deeply disturbing and should be a troubling sign for all EU nations.

The law was passed extremely quickly and comes off as a knee-jerk reaction to a ‘crisis’ situation. Furthermore, we should add that not only was this decision made in the face of vehement objections of organizations such as the Red Cross and other NGOs, but the law most certainly violates international human rights law on a number of counts.

We will continue to follow the disturbing developments in Lithuania-Belarus in the coming weeks.