Amnesty reprimands Latvia for ‘cruel’ refugee policy: ‘They are arbitrarily detained and sometimes tortured’ | Abroad

Latvia has issued a cruel ultimatum to refugees and migrants: accept to return to their country ‘voluntarily’, or remain stranded at the border facing detention, illegal return and torture. In some cases, their arbitrary detention at the border could amount to enforced disappearance,” said Eve Geddie, director of Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office.

“The Latvian authorities have left men, women and children to fend for themselves in icy temperatures, often stranded in forests. They have forcibly driven them back to Belarus, where they have no chance to seek protection. These actions have nothing to do with with border protection and its flagrant violations of international and EU law,” said Geddie.

Latvia declared a state of emergency in the summer of last year as more and more people flocked to the border from Belarus. In four border areas, the state of emergency also suspended the right to request asylum. “This is against European and international law and the Latvian authorities used this to forcibly and forcibly return people to Belarus, which is a violation of the principle of ‘non-refoulement’,” it said. Amnesty International.

Latvia, Lithuania and Poland continue to commit serious abuses, the human rights organization says, on the pretext of being the target of a ‘hybrid attack’ by Belarus. “As winter approaches and movements at the border have resumed, the state of emergency continues to allow the Latvian authorities to illegally return people to Belarus. Many more people could be exposed to violence, arbitrary detention and other abuses, with limited or no independent oversight,” said Geddie.

Amnesty International wants the European institutions to take urgent steps to ensure that Latvia ends the state of emergency and “restores the right to asylum across the country for all those seeking safety, regardless of their origin or how they crossed the border”.