Lithuania is set to establish a new agency to handle the reception and accommodation of migrants.
The parliament on Thursday passed the respective amendments to the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens, with 96 votes in favour, one against, and nine abstentions.
The new agency will provide social, accommodation, and other essential services to asylum seekers, foreign nationals granted asylum in Lithuania, and irregular migrants pending their expulsion from the country.
The new agency will be subordinate to the Social Security and Labor Ministry and will include the Refugee Reception Centre currently located in Rukla and the Naujininkai refugee reception camp in Vilnius.
According to Interior Minister Agnė Bilotaitė, the new arrangement will relieve border guards of the responsibility for migrants’ living conditions.
The agency will serve as a one-stop shop for legal, social, health, and other essential services to migrants.
“It is very important that with the new institution and a team of qualified specialists, we will be able to ensure humane reception conditions and human rights for foreigners," Bilotaitė said.
The influx of irregular migrants to Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland from Belarus began in 2021. The West says it is a “hybrid attack” organised by the Minsk regime.
Almost 4,200 irregular migrants crossed into Lithuania from Belarus in 2021. The vast majority of these migrants left Lithuania once they were allowed to move freely.
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