- Title: Belarus claims success in curbing illegal migration
- Date: 1st December 2016
- Summary: KOTLOVKA, BELARUS (RECENT) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** BELARUS-LATVIA BORDER SIGN FOR BELARUS AT BORDER CARS AND LORRIES AT BORDER CONTROL CLOSE OF BARRIER AND LORRY REGISTRATION PLATE BORDER SECURITY RUNNING CHECK ON LORRY VEHICLES WAITING AT BORDER SEEN THROUGH FENCE CAR DRIVING PAST BORDER CONTROL VARIOUS OF BORDER CONTROL OFFICER LOOKING THROUGH DOCUMENTS MAN STANDING OUTSIDE BORDER CONTROL BOOTH, CAR DRIVING BY MINSK, BELARUS (RECENT) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) BELARUS STATE BORDER COMMITTEE SPOKESPERSON, ALEXANDER TISCHENKO, SAYING: "In the last few years we have managed to significantly battle activity of illegal immigration, organisers of illegal channels for immigration in our direction. And within all generally recognised criteria our direction is considered to be the most difficult to get through. This can even be confirmed by the issues connected with the prices on services which illegal traffickers provide." CLOSE OF DETAIL ON UNIFORM OF TISCHENKO (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) BELARUS STATE BORDER COMMITTEE SPOKESPERSON, ALEXANDER TISCHENKO, SAYING: "Usually taxi drivers bring groups of illegal immigrants straight from Moscow to the border, they dump them in the forest showing a direction and then the illegal immigrants try to illegally cross this border. The tactics change every time, but the goal is the same - the maximum number of people in the minimum amount of time. Only in the last months we have detained five groups of illegal immigrants, generally the majority of illegal immigrants that we register are from Vietnam." SMORGON, BELARUS (RECENT) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF DETENTION CENTRE BARBED WIRE SIGN SEEN THROUGH BARRIER READING (Belarussian): 'TEMPORARY DETENTION FACILITY' GROUP OF DETAINED VIETNAMESE MEN WHO WERE DETAINED AT THE BELARUS BORDER BEING RELEASED ONTO DETENTION CENTRE COURTYARD SECURITY SHUTTING GATE DETAINED MEN SECURITY OFFICER LOOKING AT DETAINED MEN THROUGH FENCE CLOSE OF MAN SEEN THROUGH FENCE MEN WALKING THROUGH GATES MEN BEING LED INTO CELL, OFFICER CLOSING DOOR MAN LOOKING THROUGH SLIT ON DOOR MINSK, BELARUS (RECENT) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) CO-FOUNDER OF HUMAN CONSTANTA ORGANISATION, ALEXEY KOZLIUK, SAYING: "It is obvious that having violated the laws they will await deportation, they will face deportation, but while they wait for it a number of procedures must be carried out, which include receiving new documents, if they do not have them. This means requests to the embassy, some additional checks. And the whole of the time that people wait for this - and it can take months - these people are kept at a temporary detention facility, as specialised centres for immigrants do not exist in Belarus." WRITING ON BOARD WITH HASHTAGS (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) CO-FOUNDER OF HUMAN CONSTANTA ORGANISATION, ALEXEY KOZLIUK, SAYING: "This means that people who in fact have not violated the law to the extent of deserving to be isolated from society are in the same conditions as criminals. This is of course is serious violation of their human rights." GUDOGAI, BELARUS (RECENT) (REUTERS) BORDER CONTROL OFFICERS WALKING TOWARDS TRAIN DESTINED TO LITHUANIA BORDER CONTROL OFFICER LOOKING AT PEOPLE'S TICKETS SEEN THROUGH WINDOW OF TRAIN VARIOUS OF BORDER CONTROL OFFICER LOOKING AT PEOPLE'S TICKETS TRAIN OFFICER LOOKING BENEATH TRAIN DURING BORDER CHECKS SIGN ON TRAIN READING "MINSK" IN LITHUANIAN TRAIN DEPARTING
- Embargoed: 16th December 2016 08:28
- Keywords: Belarus illegal immigration migration border control Vietnamese detention
- Location: KOTLOVKA, MINSK, SMORGON, GUDOGAI, BELARUS
- City: KOTLOVKA, MINSK, SMORGON, GUDOGAI, BELARUS
- Country: Belarus
- Reuters ID: LVA0015B1W0MX
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Belarus is waging a fierce war to thwart both smuggling and illegal migration of people across borders into Belarus, says the country's border agency, boasting success in curbing both activities.
"In the last few years we have managed to significantly battle activity of illegal immigration, organisers of illegal channels for immigration in our direction. And within all generally recognised criteria our direction is considered to be the most difficult to get through. This can even be confirmed by the issues connected with the prices on services which illegal traffickers provide," Alexander Tischenko said at a recent interview with Reuters Television.
Belarus is often a transit route for people hoping to seek refugee status in the European Union, most of them from Vietnam.
Tightened security procedures at border checkpoints between Belarus and neighbours - Russia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine and Poland - have not only brought the flow of migration under control but influenced the routes being taken by people travelling without the right documents, says Tischenko.
But border police must deal with constantly changing methods being used by smugglers.
Tischenko says smugglers transport groups of people from Russia to the border with Belarus and just leave them to cross on foot to an uncertain fate on the other side. Many are apprehended by Belarussian border guards and placed in detention centres.
"The tactics change every time, but the goal is the same - the maximum number of people in the minimum amount of time," he said.
"Only in the last months we have detained five groups of illegal immigrants."
In the last year Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have tightened border controls and erected fences on their eastern borders, worried the Baltic region will become a new entry point for refugees as migrant routes through the Balkans becomes harder.
Governments of those countries fear they could see thousands of refugees cross from former Soviet master Russia - the focus of long historical mistrust - and Belarus. Concerns have grown since around 6,000 asylum seekers have been reported to cross into Finland and Norway from Russia last year.
Estonia is installing surveillance devices, such as those already on the Lithuanian border with Belarus, to shut out smuggling and illegal migration.
But as Belarus hails its effective migration policy, activists say the country is ill equipped to deal with foreigners who transit through the country.
Alexey Kozliuk, co-founder of Human Constanta, an organisation that monitors and seeks to provide support to asylum seekers being held in Belarus, says the government's efforts to deal with refugees are substandard.
Kozliuk says special holding centres for illegal migrants do not exist in the country and migrants are held for months in facilities meant for temporary detention.
"They will face deportation, but while they wait for it a number of procedures must be carried out, which include receiving new documents, if they do not have them. This means requests to the embassy, some additional checks. And the whole of the time that people wait for this - and it can take months," Kozliuk told Reuters.
"This means that people who in fact have not violated the law to the extent of deserving to be isolated from society are in the same conditions as criminals. This is of course is serious violation of their human rights," he added.
Human Constanta set up a permanent mission in Brest after Poland denied entry to some 200 Chechen migrants trying to cross into the European Union in August.
Asylum seekers from the Russian enclave are most often fleeing persecution by the security apparatus of pro-Kremlin leader Ramzan Kadyrov.
According to the organisation between 1000 and 3000 Chechens are currently in Brest.
At a recent international conference on migration in Minsk, Deputy Labor and Social Security Minister Alexander Rumak, said Belarus's migration policy was based on the universally recognised principles and norms of international law and protected human rights and freedoms. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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