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Beatričė Bernotienė, Director of the Rukla Refugee Reception Center, Dalius Sinkevičius, Alytus Aerodrome Director, Giedrž Blažytė, Migrant Rights Expert, Alvydas Verbickas, Director of the Varėna District Municipal Administration and Vice-President of the Association of Lithuanian municipalities discussed this on the Žinių radio program Dienas Klaipėda.
Residents fear strangers
Beatričė Bernotienė, director of the Rukla Refugee Reception Center, said that migrants often do not understand where they come from or how they got to Lithuania.
“People are afraid to speak and are afraid to say how they got here and who told them or encouraged them to come to Lithuania. A large part of these migrants do not see Lithuania as a target and will not stay here, but the hostility of the population is also visible: people are afraid of what they do not know.
I can assure you that our migrants are calm enough and accommodated in families. They are sufficiently vulnerable people and they need help. It is not their fault that they are here, they just did something to bring them here, ”said B. Bernotienė.
According to her, people who want to stay in Lithuania and apply for asylum are happy to learn the Lithuanian language, they want to find a job, learn a profession.
71 migrants were also housed in the building located in the territory of Alytus Aeroclub during the weekend. The director of this club, Dalius Sinkevičius, said it was a surprise.
“That building has never been adapted for living, it used to have instructor rooms and classes. No showers or living conditions were created, ”he said.
Ausma Miškinienė, Vice President of the Association of Municipalities of Lithuania and Mayor of Lazdijai District, said that the complexity of this situation increases every day. According to her, the main problem in the district at the moment is the safety of the population.
“The priority for all municipal leaders is the safety of the residents of our districts and cities, we hear many people say that safety is not guaranteed, they feel unsafe.
There is also the question of compensation costs: how, who, when will cover the costs incurred by the municipalities, because they are incurred now and will be incurred later, and there are no clear financing mechanisms, ”said A. Miškinienė.
According to her, there are natural questions where the migrants will travel after 10 days, who will take them out, if accommodation will really only be needed for 10 days.
“There are more questions than answers, and we hope that the government and the ministries will be involved in solving this problem,” said A. Miškinienė.
He also mentioned that residents of the Varėna district see people who may be illegal immigrants when they return to the forests.
“I want to believe SBGS leaders that the vast majority of those who cross the border are being detained, I think these are just isolated cases,” said the mayor of Lazdijai district.
According to her, all municipalities have taken their options very seriously and carefully, and have already provided information on how everyone can contribute and help.
However, it should be assessed that there are no empty buildings in the municipalities, because the buildings are used for their intended purpose. Other premises, which are empty, sold at auction or abandoned, do not have the most necessary conditions, ”said A. Miškinienė.
According to data from Wednesday, 71 migrants were housed in Lazdijai. According to her, the building is not suitable for accommodation: it is a school where camps for children and pre-school education groups operated before the influx of refugees.
“We found a place for a very temporary accommodation. We were waiting for Monday; we understand that this will be a period of 10 days. We are going to realize that the school and classrooms are not accommodation, so there are really a lot of challenges.
We will already move people to other facilities, old residences, although there are also minimal conditions, ”said the mayor of the Lazdijai district.
It is important to meet more than just basic needs.
The expert on migrant rights, Giedrė Blažytė, in turn, considered that requesting asylum in Lithuania is not a crime, so qualifying migrants as illegal is not accurate.
“It just came to our attention then. <...> Probably, criminals can be those people who lead to such a situation. This is a cynical use of vulnerable people, so the concept of illegal immigrants should not be used, ”explained G. Blažytė.
According to her, Lithuania has ratified the Geneva Convention on the Status of Refugees, in which case it has joined other countries and committed to implementing the provisions and integrating asylum seekers.
G.Blažytė explained that because of this it is important to meet not only the basic needs of migrants.
“It is very important that a person receives information about where they come from, what rights they have. It must be given in a language they understand. It is one of the rights to receive translation services, medical insurance, medical services.
In addition, a person who comes here can receive free legal assistance, use the necessary medical assistance, ”said the specialist.
Alvydas Verbickas, director of the Varėna district municipal administration, told the program that there was no more anxiety in Varėna, but it was justified.
“The decision was made unexpectedly, we did not have the opportunity to negotiate with the residents, to argue,” said A. Verbickas.
According to him, the municipality does not have many disused buildings, so it will certainly not be possible to receive more than 160 migrants in the district.
“It just came to our attention then. Today we have a larger population of Mali, the state of Somalia, it is the blacks that are unusual to see so much.
These are the most frequently asked questions, if the residents will be able to go to the store or to another place, we really answered those questions, “said A. Verbickas.
He also denied rumors that migrants freely walked through the Varėna forests; According to the director of the municipal administration, several Roma people had recently been detained, but were not involved in the flow of migrants.
According to Wednesday’s data, 158 migrants were housed in one of the Varėna district schools, where separate showers were installed for women and men and clean water was provided to the migrants.
