Lithuania filed a lawsuit against Belarus before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing the authorities in Minsk for deliberately causing the migrant crisis, which claims Vilnius, endangered human lives and violated international law.
The case is based on the alleged breach of the United Nations protocol against the smuggling of migrants by land, sea and air, the Court said on Monday.
Lithuania accuses Belarus to violate international obligations by enabling migrant smuggling, did not provide his borders, rejected cooperation with the competent authorities and ignored migrant rights. With such action, Lithuania claims, seriously, its sovereignty, security and public order, while the lives of numerous vulnerable persons are endangered.
“The regime in Belarus must bear the legal consequences for organizing the wave of illegal migration and the accompanying violations of human rights,” said Minister of Justice Lithuania Rimantas Mockus.
“We send a clear message to this: No state can use vulnerable people as political weapons without answering international law,” he added.
From 2021. The relations between Lithuania and Belarus were further deteriorated after thousands of migrants, mostly from the Middle East and African countries, crossed the border from Belarus to Lithuania, Poland and Latvia.
At the end of 2021. The European Union adopted emergency measures that borders with Belarus and Russia allows temporary suspension of the right to asylum, in response to the “hybrid war” that waters Minsk and Moscow.
According to the European Commission, the number of migrants who entered the EU across the Belarusian border increased by 66 percent in 2024. Compared to the previous year.
(Vijesti.ba)
