Jovita Sandaite, head of Lithuania’s IOM office, speaks to Rudaw on August 6, 2021.
VILNIUS — More than half of the migrants who have recently arrived in Lithuania from Belarus are Iraqis and most of those are Kurds, a senior official with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Vilnius to Rudaw.
“At the moment, we have over 4,000 people that crossed the border from Belarus,” Jovita Sandaite, head of Lithuania’s IOM office, told Rudaw on Friday. “From Iraq, we currently have over 2,700 people,” and most of them are Kurds, she added.
Migrants have recently flooded into Lithuania from the eastern European country of Belarus in what Vilnius has said is a politically motivated move by Minsk to pressure the European Union to lift sanctions.
Kurds held in camps and stuck on the border say they are living in terrible conditions.
"We have been staying here for a month now. The situation is extremely miserable. Police and commandos treat us migrants very badly. People have been electrocuted, people have been tortured with boots. People drink toilet water. The situation is terrible," Bilal Akram, a Kurdish migrant, told Rudaw on Thursday.
On Friday, their tents flooded after heavy rain.
“I believe that the government of Lithuania is trying to do their best in the situation. However, the numbers have grown very rapidly in the last few weeks, and we expected there might be some challenges ahead,” said Sandiate.
“I also believe this is just a beginning, and we will definitely have to think not only about the reception of those people but later on about their integration and how we help them become part of this society - if they remain here,” she added.
The influx of people has slowed, she said, with only two new people arriving on Thursday.
Iraqi Airways announced on Thursday evening that it is suspending flights to Belarus for one week.
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