Lithuania Submites Appeal To The ICJ Against Lukashenka

It’s the Belarusian dictator’s turn after Putin.

The Lithuanian government approved the initiative of the Ministry of Justice to hold the Belarusian authorities accountable for the smuggling of migrants, since, according to Vilnius, this is being done at the behest of Minsk. the Ministry of Justice of Lithuania reported.

They are accusing Belarus of non-compliance with the provisions of the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. The Ministry of Justice will start negotiations to apply to the arbitration or the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

“Dictators are not immune from international law. After Putin, it is the turn of the Lukashenka regime to take responsibility,” said Minister of Justice of Lithuania Ewelina Dobrowolska.

The purpose of the suit is to compensate for the losses of Lithuania due to the migration crisis.

According to Minister of the Interior Agnė Bilotaitė, Lithuania is taking a very important and necessary step by initiating a judicial procedure against the Belarusian regime in the International Court of Justice related to the migration crisis. In her opinion, Lithuania will not only protect its interests in this way but also draw the attention of the international community to human rights violations committed by Belarus.

“We used all possible tools to protect ourselves from the hybrid attack organized by the Lukashenka regime using illegal migrants: physical barriers, the most modern monitoring systems at the border, and changes in the EU migration policy. The legal barrier is no less important than the physical one,” the minister stressed.

Recall that the migration crisis began against the backdrop of deteriorating relations between Belarus and Lithuania, Latvia and Poland in the spring of 2021. Aliaksandr Lukashenka said that Belarus would no longer hold back illegal migrants to the EU countries.

Lithuania, Latvia and Poland have built fences on the border with Belarus to prevent the flow of migrants. Lithuania, Latvia and Poland also decided not to let migrants into their countries. They deploy them at the border and send them back to Belarus.