Lithuania's legal response to migration crisis: Theory and practice in the context of national security and human rights

Abstract

This chapter analyses certain aspects of Lithuania’s migration policy considering migrant influx to Lithuania through the Belarusian border. The influx of migration as part of the hybrid attack against Lithuania, Poland, and Latvia supported by the Belarusian authorities in 2021 required Lithuanian institutions to take immediate coordinated contra measures to stop the hybrid attack on the EU. Lithuania is in charge of ensuring the protection of the border and as a sovereign state has the exclusive and discretionary right to make final decisions in the situation and to employ the best suitable and effective measures to handle threats to national security. However, being a party to international conventions and a member of the EU, Lithuania is obliged to find a proper balance between national security and the human rights of people seeking asylum. In this unprecedented situation for Lithuania, just after the end of the pandemic, the country was forced to make urgent decisions (such as additional restrictions to enter the country, the introduction of an emergency, certain restrictions to the rights of persons illegally entering Lithuania border, etc.). The chapter discusses certain aspects of legal regulation, whether Lithuania was successful in finding solutions, and what could be done better.