Lithuania files case against Belarus at ICJ over alleged people smuggling

Belarus is the subject of a legal action brought by Lithuania’s neighbor at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing it of stoking the refugee and migrant crisis by facilitating human trafficking across their borders.

Lithuanian Justice Minister Rimantas Mockus issued a statement on Monday, saying that the Belarusian regime must be held legally accountable for initiating the wave of human rights violations.

According to international law, “we are bringing this case before the International Court of Justice to send a clear message to the international community.”

The alleged violations of the UN Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea, and Air by Belarus are the focus of the case, which was submitted to the ICJ in The Hague.

According to the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, bilateral negotiations to resolve the conflict failed, and there is evidence of direct involvement by the Belarusian government in coordinating refugee and migrant flows, including a rise in flights operated by Belarusian state-owned airlines from the Middle East.

Many of the passengers were escorted to the Lithuanian border by Belarusian security forces after landing in Belarus, according to Lithuanian officials.

Lithuania also alleged that Belarus had refused to cooperate with its border services in preventing unreliable crossings and that it is now suing the ICJ for alleged damages, including costs incurred as a result of border reinforcement.

Since 2021, when thousands of people, mostly from the Middle East and Africa, have started arriving at the borders of Lithuania, Poland, and Latvia from Belarus, the tensions between the two nations have simmered.

More than 400 Iraqis were repatriated to Baghdad on a charter flight from Minsk to Belarus in November 2021, despite Belarus’ prior deportation of Middle Eastern refugees and migrants.

A Human Rights Watch report that the country was responsible for the crisis that year claimed Belarus and used brutal methods, dehumanizing treatment, and coercion from Belarusian border guards were all over the place.

Minsk has also been accused of “weaponizing” migration in an effort to destabilize the bloc by European Union officials. Belarus defame the allegations vehemently.