Lithuania and the European Union are responsible for the lives of refugees on the border between Lithuania and Belarus.

Refugees trapped on the border between Lithuanian and Belarus
Lithuania and the European Union are responsible for the lives of refugees on the border between
Lithuania and Belarus.
According to information from Iraqi and Kurdish refugees both Lithuanian and Belarus are making
announcements via loud hailers saying the refugees are illegal and to return where they have come from
they will not be allowed to cross the border. This inhuman behavior has left families including many
children trapped between the two borders in terrible living conditions.

Some 4,000 migrants have flooded into Lithuania from Belarus in what Lithuania says is a politically
motivated move weaponizing migrants to pressure the European Union to lift sanctions on Minsk. Most
are Iraqis, including Kurds. Lithuania, Poland and Latvia believe Lukashenko is using the migrants,
mainly from Iraq, to pressure the European Union into lifting sanctions imposed as a result of his
crackdown on opponents after last year’s disputed elections, widely seen as rigged. One leaked video
showed migrants being released from a van near the border and told, first in Russian and then in English,
which direction to walk. Another showed Belarusian riot police in helmets telling a group of people,
many carrying heavy bags, to “walk” toward the EU border.
Iraqi Kurdish asylum seekers held in refugee camps within Lithuanian are living in terrible conditions,
with flooded tents, assault by authorities, and no drinking water – forcing some to drink toilet water!
They are also not provided with adequate food provisions. Lithuanian officials are also putting pressure
on the refugees to sign documents agreeing to voluntarily return to Iraq. The International Federation of
Iraqi Refugees has received reports that the Lithuanian minister of defense has signed agreements with
officials in Iraq to accept the return of forcibly deported refugees. Three hundred Iraqi refugees were
returned to Iraq from Belarus on Tuesday 10 August.
IFIR condemns Lithuania, Belarus and the European Union for the terrible treatment of refugees we call
on them to:
1. Immediately open their borders;
2. Stop Deportation policy and treating the refugees as political pawns;
3. Accept applications for refugee status;
4. The governments of Europe to recognize the rights of refugees and to transfer them to a safer
place.

2
IFIR calls on the European Union to accept the refugees and arrange for them to be given refugee status
and the right to remain in European countries. We ask all the refugee rights' organizations to support
our letter and to force the EU Government to respond to the demands laid out in this letter.

International Federation of Iraqi Refugees (IFIR)

12.08.2021