Latvia: The Situation of Stranded Asylum Seekers

According to a report by Euronews, the number of migrants crossing the dense forests along the Latvian border, where temperatures often drop below freezing, has increased in recent months.

Data from the Latvian Ministry of Interior shows that from December 2022 to January 2023 alone, more than 1,300 people were detained at the Latvian border, a sharp increase from November, when the number was 429.

Since August 2021, Latvia has increased the number of its border patrols following the declaration of a state of emergency and allowed its border police to turn back all migrants entering the country from Belarus.

The state of emergency, which has been extended several times, will remain in force until May 10 this year.

According to a Euronews report, unlike other migration routes to Eastern Europe, there is limited NGO monitoring at the Latvian border, which has made these organizations unaware of the situation of asylum seekers in the area.

The few who are allowed to enter Latvia are usually placed in centers with very limited access to humanitarian aid.

According to Doctors Without Borders, the Latvian Border Guard Service pushed more than 4,000 people back to Belarus in 2022, leaving them without enough food and water in the border forests of the two countries.

 

_{Source:Euronews, Infomigrants}