3000 migrants of 37 nationalities are stranded at the borders between Lithuania and Belarus
Shafaq News/ The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Iraq reported that a total of 3000 migrants of 37 nationalities are stranded along the borders between Lithuania and Belarus.
UNHCR spokesperson Firas Al-Khateeb said in a statement, "The UNHCR provides humanitarian support and treatment to the Iraqis stranded at the borders of Lithuania and Belarus,” adding that the number of refugees stranded there reaches 3000 people of 37 different nationalities, 60% (1500) of whom are Iraqis.
He added that the High Commissioner provides “aid, support, and advice to these people, by assisting them either by accepting asylum or returning them voluntarily to their countries of origin. ".
Videos of refugees, including Iraqis, trying to cross from the Belarus border to the European Union, while refusing to receive them, have circulated on social media.
The migrants set their clothes on fire to warm up from the cold before rains fell on them between the border forests.
Today, Tuesday, a special flight will be operated to evacuate Iraqis stranded in Belarus, according to the Iraqi Foreign Ministry.
The Ministry's spokesman, Ahmed Al-Sahaf, said that the delegation of the Iraqi embassy in Moscow, which is in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, has prepared all the necessary procedures to move the stranded.
He pointed out that the diplomatic team residing in Minsk continues to grant transit passports to those who have lost their passport and wish to return home.
