Inspiration has been found for illegal immigrants in Denmark: offers them to build settlements outside the EU

The MP brought this idea from Denmark. The country adopted a law on June 3 that allows the relocation of illegal immigrants to third countries (not belonging to the EU) and has already signed the first agreement with Rwanda.

As D. Šakalienė explained in the program “Delphi Theme”, the African version does not seem acceptable to him.

“I think we should think about closer regions. (The main criteria would be) stability, democracy, the ability to comply with international obligations, total monitoring and surveillance so that it is not a single country to avoid political blackmail (… ), and our thinking that these people have the conditions to avoid it. Tens of thousands of camps in southern Europe repeat problems. Small settlements (is better) than terrible camps with ten thousand tents, “said the parliamentarian.

It considered that, in such a case, Lithuania could purchase a temporary accommodation service in other countries and maintain the obligation to provide migrants with legal, medical, social, psychological advice and other necessary assistance.

The main argument for accepting what he said was to reduce the motivation of migrants to cross the border illegally, knowing that they would not remain in the EU.

“Today, what is happening is hurting economic migrants, who are working illegally, hurting refugees because they are pushing them to the margins and not getting help, hurting the state, taxpayers who are paying huge sums of money for to keep people here, instead of investing in countries to strengthen their institutions (…) Today, the only side that can win is human traffickers, because it is a billion dollar business.

Therefore, in this situation, we must reduce the motivation of economic migrants to cross the border illegally, risk their lives and become completely homeless, ”said D. Šakalienė.

In Australia, that didn’t work

Dovilė Jakniūnaitė, a professor at Vilnius University University of International Relations and Political Science (VU TSPMI), praised the Seimas member for seeking a long-term solution, but also saw a number of downsides to such proposals.

“I have no doubt that it is as expensive as ours. The Danes are also still in the deliberation stage so far, but Australia, for example, has already tried since 2000 to set up detention centers in various forms on different islands. They didn’t work very well.

They began to close precisely because of poor monitoring, human rights violations and violations of children’s rights. It was not a sustainable solution, it is gradually being abandoned, ”said D. Jakniūnaitė.

The political scientist also questioned why any democratic country would want to do what Lithuania itself does not want to do.

“The discussion is very important, but let’s think about which state of Europe, not the EU, is democratic, would agree to accept and build settlements for people who came illegally, if we, Lithuania itself, don’t want to do that. Then there is the question, why can’t Lithuanians make beautiful little settlements? ”D. Jakniūnaitė asked rhetorically.

The MP said lessons must be learned from other mistakes, social costs must be assessed, safeguards must be put in place and human rights monitoring must be guaranteed.

Offers to prepare for integration

As of January 1, 4,156 migrants had arrived in Lithuania. A member of the Seimas NSGK was open, according to the legal regulations in force throughout the EU, including Lithuania, to send those people who, although they have not been granted refugee status, but refuse to leave, there is practically no possibility.

“We have to accept reality, (…) with those four thousand people we are trapped because they are in a trap – selling a house, giving away money. Three hundred euros does not solve the problem, they have nowhere to return, ”said Mr Šakalienė.

According to the parliamentarian, it is currently very important to adjust the current conditions of their accommodation so that they comply with basic human rights standards.

“Because the reports from non-governmental organizations are shocking, (…) the Socdems decided a few months ago to profile them by gender, age, religious differences to prevent human trafficking, violence, prostitution, and drug trafficking. That was not done correctly. There are still reports of sexual abuse at an underage camp for adult men. We can fix this, “said D. Šakalienė.

According to the Seimas member, it is also important to start preparing for the integration of these people.

“Extending the detention does not solve the problem. The longer a person is isolated, the more difficult it will be to work with him. (…) Each case is individual and therefore the number of people in doubt must be disclosed by the public authorities, the number of people in doubt and other options, such as wearing a hoop to allow a person to walk in isolation, but if someone is concerned, we would know the location of the person.

You should start doing this in small portions. To see which communities would be viewed more positively, the government should agree on an exchange system, what the communities could get for it, create success stories, ”said D. Šakalienė.

You do not intend to abandon the rollback policy.

Lithuania does not intend to abandon the strategy of moving migrants to the border even after the cold season. However, the VU TSPMI professor did not rule out that if there were more cruel human stories (such as those on the border between Poland and Belarus), it would be necessary to “humanize the policy of rejection”.

“We all agree that the refusal policy is effective, but that efficiency has a high human cost and the limit of legitimacy is fragile,” said D. Jakniūnaitė.

MEP D. Šakalienė believes that suspending the rollback policy would further increase costs.

“It must be remembered that the four thousand migrants in Lithuania, where we see that a significant part of them probably do not qualify for refugee status (…), have already become a border test. (…) If we stop the policy of reversion, then, according to intelligence, there are at least two and a half times more migrants in Belarus who could suddenly flock to our border. That means (…) even more difficult decisions, ”he said.

According to the Seimas member, a clear message should be sent to those people that we cannot let them in at this time.

“But thermal blankets, hot water, warm shoes and jackets (could be provided to help them), and the message is still being repeated that we do not have the opportunity to do so at the moment,” said D. Šakalienė.

At the same time, the parliamentarian agreed with the opinion of the former president of the Constitutional Court Dainius Žalimas that a review of the legal status should be considered.

“In his opinion, the state of emergency would allow Lithuania to think internationally, as well as respect the law and our Constitution. Also, we need to talk to the countries of origin. Because there are complaints that people who no longer want to be in the border and want to leave are hampered, ”said D. Šakalienė.