Iraq, Lithuania reaffirm efforts to tackle migrant crisis

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Thousands of Iraqis have returned to their homeland from the freezing Belarus-Lithuania borders in the past few months, Iraq’s foreign minister said in a joint presser with his Lithuanian counterpart on Sunday, while reiterating their joint efforts to tackle the recent migrant crisis.

Fuad Hussein received the Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis on Sunday to discuss “bilateral relations between the two countries, the issue of the migration of Iraqis to Belarus then to Lithuania then to Poland during this year and the past year,” state media reported.

Iraq repatriated four thousand Iraqis from the Belarusian-Lithuanian border in 10 flights, according to Hussein, noting, “Some Iraqis remain in Lithuania and we are awaiting their decision to voluntarily return them to Baghdad.”

Thousands of Iraqis and Kurds have traveled to Belarus in recent months with the help of smugglers, hoping to reach western Europe in a search for jobs and opportunities they feel they cannot access at home where unemployment is high and political tensions, corruption, and instability leave them with little hope for their future.

In response, Poland has tightened its border security. Some migrants on the Belarus-Poland border have sustained injuries, and several others have lost their lives as they were fenced in with no food or water.

“There will be a kind of cooperation between Iraq and Lithuania to stop migration,” Landsbergis noted following their meeting.

The exodus of Kurds is part of a migrant crisis that has compelled European nations to fortify their borders. Tensions are high between Belarus and Europe. Minsk has been accused of exploiting the migrants and using them as a pressure tactic against the European Union in response to sanctions imposed upon the Belarusian regime. Amnesty International in December said the migrants stuck on the border were subject to violence, human rights violations and extortion at the hands of Belarusian forces.

Iraq began offering repatriation flights in November, returning thousands of Iraqi and Kurdish migrants from Minsk. 

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has acknowledged the existence of systemic problems and financial hardships, but says it is working to address these issues. However, despite government efforts and the horrors the migrants have faced in Belarus, they are still willing to risk it all to leave the Kurdistan Region. 

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