The 2021 Belarus–European Union border crisis is a migrant crisis consisting of an influx of several tens of thousands of immigrants, primarily from Iraqi Kurdistan, with smaller groups hailing from elsewhere in Asia and from parts of Africa, to Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland via those countries’ borders with Belarus. The crisis was triggered by the severe deterioration in Belarus–European Union relations, following the 2020 Belarusian presidential election, the 2020–2021 Belarusian protests, the Ryanair Flight 4978 incident and its sanctions, and the attempted forced repatriation of Olympic sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya from Tokyo, Japan.
The crisis began sometime around July 7, 2021, when Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko threatened to “flood” the EU with human traffickers, drug smugglers, and armed migrants. Later, Belarusian authorities and state-controlled tourist enterprises, together with some airlines operating in the Middle East, started promoting tours to Belarus by increasing the number of connections from the Middle East and giving those who bought them Belarusian visas, ostensibly for hunting purposes. Social media groups were additionally offering fraudulent advice on the rules of crossing the border to the prospective migrants, most of whom were trying to reach Germany. Those who arrived in Belarus were then given instructions about how and where to trespass the European Union (EU) border, and what to tell the border guards on the other side of the border. Migrants said that Belarus provided them with wire cutters and axes to cut through border fences and enter the EU; however, those who did not manage to cross the border were often forced to stay there by Belarusian authorities, who were accused of assaulting some migrants who failed to get across. Belarusian authorities later confirmed that the involvement of the border troops is “absolutely possible”. Belarus refused to allow Polish humanitarian aid for the migrants, which would have included tents and sleeping bags.
More than 4,200 migrants have been apprehended crossing the Lithuanian border from Belarus this year, according to authorities there.But Lithuania has also pushed some 7,000 back to Belarus, and migrants are also being pushed back by Polish border guards.
International law states that anyone seeking protection must be given access to the asylum process. The EU has said it is up to the Lithuanian authorities to make sure their policies are in line with EU law on asylum procedures. But human rights groups have accused the EU of ignoring what is happening on the ground.
