At OSCE Security Committee meeting Lithuania demanded that Belarus stops illegal migration flows from the country
„Illegal migration from Belarus must be stopped! Belarus must implement the international commitments and obligations it committed to, ensure safety of its borders and prevent the activities of criminal networks engaged into organizing illegal migration to the European Union“, – delegation of Lithuania underlined at the Security Committee meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) organized today, June 14.
Lithuanian representatives drew the attention of OSCE participating States to the fact that Lithuanian institutions, responsible for the protection of our state border, which is also the external border of the European Union, are observing a substantial increase of cases of attempted violation of this border by individuals crossing it illegally from Belarus to Lithuania.
Moreover, it was underlined that this negative trend has further deteriorated sharply after the forced landing by the Belarusian authorities of the civilian Ryanair aircraft FR 4978 flying from Athens to Vilnius on May 23. Lithuania recalled that because of this forced landing, Belarusian journalist Mr R. Pratasevich and his friend Ms S. Sapega, a student at the Vilnius-based European Humanities University, were detained. After receiving strong and united condemnation by international community for this act, A. Lukashenko threatened publically Lithuania and other European States “to flood them with illegal migrants and narcotics”.
While illegal migrants are now attempting to enter Lithuania from Belarus in a situation where there is no external migratory pressure on Belarus, it only reinforces our suspicion of the artificial and intentional character of these developments, and that they happen with the knowledge and maybe even possible involvement of the Belarusian border guards and other institutions.
Lithuanian delegation also called on OSCE to follow up on the illegal migration flows from Belarus and to undertake concrete measures to ensure Belarus protects its borders and meets its respective international commitments in their letter and in spirit.
