According to Médecins Sans Frontières, dozens of persons who are trying to enter the European Union as refugees are still being turned away at the Lithuanian and Latvian borders with Belarus and are allowed to rot in the forest for up to several weeks, a ReliefWeb press release writes.
MSF implores the authorities in Lithuania and Latvia to end all border pushbacks, which only serve to traumatize migrants and result in serious injuries, depriving people of their right to seek protection.
According to Georgina Brown, the MSF project coordinator for Lithuania and Latvia, fourteen people, including children, had to be admitted to the hospital in the most recent weeks.
Thousands of migrants have tried to get across the border from Belarus into Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia in the past year, coming from nations such as Afghanistan, Iraq, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Syria, Cameroon, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The governments of all three nations shut down their borders and proclaimed an emergency.
People are pushed back through the fence by border patrol officers in Lithuania and Latvia, leaving them without a place to stay. People are still left in the forest without enough food or water, and such pushbacks are growing commonplace. At least 27 people perished at these boundaries during the winter of 2021–2022, while the actual number may be higher.
The persistent resistance deprives migrants of their fundamental rights, such as the ability to request asylum or receive medical care. As the frigid temperatures in Lithuania and Latvia lead to more dangerous situations like frost bite and hypothermia, we are outraged that pushbacks persist.
Daily pushbacks without regard for human rights or dignity persist despite the cold winter weather. MSF requests that the authorities in Lithuania and Latvia stop their hostile practices, which purposefully make it difficult for people to find protection and worsen their suffering.
