Lithuania Takes Belarus to Court For ‘Weaponizing’ Migration

Lithuania filed a complaint against Belarus with the International Court of Justice (ICJ), charging its Eastern European neighbor with orchestrating a migrant crisis by smuggling people across their shared border, Al Jazeera reported. 

“We are taking this case to the International Court of Justice to send a clear message – no state can use vulnerable people as political pawns without facing consequences under international law,” said the Baltic country’s justice minister, Rimantas Mockus. 

Lithuania, which is also seeking financial compensation for damages caused by human trafficking, says attempts at bilateral talks on the issue with its neighbors have failed.  

Lithuanian officials, meanwhile, say they have proof of Belarus’ direct involvement in the migrant flows, including an increase in flights from the Middle East operated by airlines owned by the Belarusian state. After the flights landed in Belarus, they added, numerous passengers were transported to the Lithuanian border by Belarusian security forces and forced to cross illegally. 

Tensions between Lithuania and Belarus relating to migration have been ongoing since 2021, when thousands of migrants, mostly from the Middle East and Africa, started appearing at Belarus’ borders with Lithuania, Poland, and Latvia, wrote Euronews. 

Meanwhile, a 2021 Human Rights Watch report accused Belarus of manufacturing a migration crisis and Belarusian border guards of human rights violations. 

European Union officials have also accused Belarus, a close ally of Russia, of “weaponizing” migration in an attempt to destabilize the bloc, allegations rejected by Minsk. 

In December, the EU passed emergency measures to allow member states bordering Belarus and Russia to temporarily halt asylum rights in instances where migration is being exploited for political purposes.