Human TraffickingMigrationNews

Lithuania Have Declared an Emergency Situation Due to Increasing Migrant Flows from Belarus

Due to illegal migration, the government declared a state-wide emergency at a meeting on Friday. The Minister of the Interior Agnė Bilotaitė has been appointed the head of operations of this emergency situation, the representatives of the Government announced on Friday.

The declaration of an emergency will facilitate the legal framework in order to speed up procedures, coordinate actions, and mobilize capacity, as well as the use of the Government Reserve. In addition, this solution will facilitate cooperation with municipalities and other institutions.

According to the SBGS, the flow of illegal migration has already increased eleven times compared to 2020, and 822 illegal migrants have been apprehended to date.

Last year, 81 such foreigners were detained at the Lithuanian border. 2019 46 illegal migrants were caught by border guards in 2018; – 104, 2017 – 72. Among the detainees on the border with Belarus this year are mostly Iraqi citizens or foreigners presenting themselves – 481. Also detained are citizens of Iran, 51 Syria, 46 Belarus, 28 Russia, 13 Guinea, 12 Turkey, 10 Sri Lanka and other countries. introduced themselves. These citizenship statistics may change during surveys when the nationality of detainees is accurately determined in the last day. Migration flows are projected to continue to increase.

With the recent significant increase in such cases, the SBGS has strengthened border security with Belarus. In addition to various organizational measures, officials from other SBGS units were seconded to this section to provide additional technical resources. In addition, forces from the Public Security Service, the Riflemen’s Union and other institutions came to the aid of the border guards. Officials from the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, FRONTEX, will start working on the border with Belarus.