(Reuters) Lithuania’s parliament passed legislation on Tuesday allowing border guards to turn back migrants who cross its frontier illegally, brushing away concerns from human rights organizations.
Lithuania, Poland and Latvia have reported a sharp increase since 2021 in migrants from countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan trying to cross their borders from Belarus, in what they and Brussels have said was a form of hybrid warfare designed to put pressure on the European Union over sanctions it imposed on Minsk.
Lithuanian border guards have already been pushing back migrants, based on a government regulation from August 2021, which has now been voted into a law.
