InfoMigrants speaks to journalist Gabriela Ramírez about the detention of refugees in Lithuania and a creative project that seeks to help them cope with their situation.
Greece has confirmed that it will massively extend a steel fence at the Turkish border to prevent migrants from entering. But a similar wall between Lithuania and Belarus is reportedly being "deliberately damaged" to help migrants reach the EU.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has spoken against lengthy detention and systematic discrimination against migrants and asylum seekers in Lithuania and has urged that an end be put to these practices and that more humane alternatives be brought in without delay.
Latvia has extended a state of emergency along its border with Belarus. The move will allow border guards to continue sending back migrants who cross into the Baltic state.
Poland says it has observed a new migration trend along its border with Belarus. Officials say there is a rise in African nationals traveling first to Russia and then to Belarus in the hope of entering the EU using irregular means.
On Thursday the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that Lithuanian national law, which allows an applicant for international protection to be denied the right to asylum and placed in automatic detention on the grounds that they have irregularly crossed the border, is incompatible with EU legislation.
Amnesty International has recorded accounts from asylum seekers "pushed" into Lithuania after being lured to Belarus under false pretenses. Some of the migrants were tortured and abused, the report said.
Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has warned that over 2,500 asylum seekers and migrants are being detained in "inhumane" conditions in Lithuania after they crossed the border from Belarus. The NGO said many are at risk of mental health degradation.
A video received by InfoMigrants shows a dozen women in Lithuania's Medininkai camp partially undressed, obviously frightened and with their hands handcuffed behind their backs. Witnesses say that Lithuanian guards arrested these migrants in their rooms, without giving them time to dress. Lithuanian authorities denied any knowledge of what had happened.
InfoMigrants contacted Eric*, an African migrant who has been locked up inside the Pabradé migrant camp in Lithuania for several months. He said he is under permanent pressure from the Lithuanian military in the camp, who harass the migrants to "go home".
The Lithuanian authorities have reportedly paid 272 migrants €1,000 to return home. According to the Polish satellite channel Belsat, the group will leave Lithuania next week on commercial flights.
In the summer of 2021, thousands of migrants entered Lithuania irregularly from Belarus. They found themselves blocked at the border of the European Union and taken to closed camps. InfoMigrants met several of these migrants, from the Middle East and Africa, who dreamed of reaching Western Europe. Six months later, what has happened to them?