Lithuania’s Interior Ministry is drafting a bill to legalise migrant pushbacks at the border, it confirmed on Friday.
Interior Minister Agnė Bilotaitė says the legislation would allow border guards to use such measures during an extreme and emergency situation and a state of war.
“This provision will not apply to foreigners fleeing military aggression or persecution,” the minister told BNS.
Laurynas Kasčiūnas, chairman of the parliamentary Committee on National Security and Defence (NSGK), said on Thursday that the migrant pushback policy could be enshrined in law, adding, however, that a political consensus is still needed.
He made the remarks during a visit to Švenčionys District, where Lithuania is completing the construction of a physical barrier on the border with Belarus.
“The NSGK chairman’s proposal follows the work we are already doing at the Interior Ministry. As we monitor the situation near the border with Belarus on a daily basis and as tensions have not gone anywhere, the Interior Ministry and the State Border Guard Service (VSAT) have already identified the need for such a legislative regulation long before,” Bilotaitė said.
In her words, the amendments “are being finalised and will soon be submitted for institutional coordination”.
“Legal experts are now looking into the legal amendments,” the minister said.
Lithuania introduced migrant pushbacks last year in response to an influx of migrants trying to cross into its territory from Belarus, accusing the Minsk regime of having orchestrated their flow.
In total, more than 11,000 foreigners have been refused entry to Lithuania from Belarus since August 3, 2021, when the interior minister ordered border guards to push back irregular migrants.
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