Amnesty International berates Latvia for bad treatment of asylum seekers at eastern border

• Published date: 26 July 2022
• Publication title: LETA

RIGA, July 26 (LETA) - Latvia has exposed migrants at the Belarus border to ill-treatment and even torture, holding them in the forest for months, Amnesty International claimed on Twitter on Tuesday.

For about a year already Latvian authorities have been taking measures to prevent illegal migrants, mainly from the Middle East, from entering Latvia from Belarus. As Latvia has repeatedly underlined, the migrant traffic across Latvia's border has been intentionally organized by Belarus' authoritarian regime as a hybrid operation against Latvia. Latvian authorities also indicate that these people have had the opportunity to request asylum in Belarus as the first safe country they have reached.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International criticizes Latvia's treatment of the migrants. The organization notes that Latvia is proposing to extend the state of emergency at the Belarus border until November, which according to Amnesty International would extend suspension of asylum and pushbacks.

"As Latvia welcomed more than 34,000 refugees fleeing Ukraine, migrants and refugees at the Belarus border - mainly from Iraq and Afghanistan - including children, were left to fend for themselves in freezing temperatures in...