MADRID, 30 Aug. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has denounced “poor” migration practices in Lithuania, including prolonged detention and systematic discrimination against refugees, migrants and asylum seekers.
“We know that some nationalities are more likely to experience longer detention than others, creating a hierarchy of suffering that the Lithuanian authorities should be deeply ashamed of,” said Georgina Brown, head of MSF in the country.
For this reason, Doctors Without Borders has called in a statement for the “immediate application” of humane alternatives that respond equitably to the needs of migrants, who are already vulnerable in themselves and are traumatized by their living conditions.
Specifically, the NGO has explained that the legal processes in Lithuania contribute to the discrimination of certain nationalities, while denouncing that migrants and asylum seekers who remain in detention for a long time are experiencing “an alarming deterioration in their health mental”.
“I am so desperate that I have tried to hurt myself because I want to get out of this prison. I decided many times that I was ready to commit suicide,” a man detained at a Lithuanian Alien Registration Center (CRE) told MSF.
The Court of Justice of the European Union has previously criticized some of the measures imposed by the Lithuanian Government to stop the arrival of migrants, as well as the treatment given to those who manage to cross the border, who once captured are sent to detention centers .
Since mid-2021, Lithuania has tightened its immigration policies due to the large flow of people who have been trying to cross from Belarus. For the Government of Vilnius, Minsk has used migration to pressure the European authorities in retaliation for the sanctions that were imposed on it.
Source: Europa Press
