On 12 February, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights will hear three cases against Latvia, Lithuania and Poland concerning alleged unlawful pushbacks — summary returns of migrants and refugees at the border — from these EU states to Belarus. This is the first time the European Court will rule on human rights implications of what the EU and its member states are calling ‘instrumentalized’ migration.
Amnesty International delegates will be in attendance.
“We have witnessed a growing tendency to invoke security concerns in migration policies. We must resist efforts to normalize discriminatory exemptions from human rights based on so-called ‘emergency’ situations,” said Mandi Mudarikwa, Amnesty International’s Head of Strategic Litigation.
“Amnesty International’s research has shown that Latvia, Lithuania and Poland are using brazen migration controls and pushback practices under the guise of countering so-called “instrumentalized” migration.
“Our research also shows the Belarussian authorities’ role in exacerbating the dire situation at the border and endangering lives. This does not absolve Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland of their international human rights obligations. Quite the opposite – it should invoke more rather than less humanity.
“These cases, and the eventual ruling, present a crucial opportunity to reaffirm the right to asylum, the absolute nature of non-refoulement obligations and people’s right not to be forced back to a place where they are exposed to inhuman treatment and all sorts of human rights violations.”
Background
On 26 April 2023 and 18 October 2024 respectively, Amnesty International submitted a third-party intervention to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in the cases of C.O.G.G and Others v Lithuania and H.M.M. and Others v. Latvia.
Both cases raise important questions regarding Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees the prohibition of torture, including in its non-refoulement components, Article 13 on the right to an effective remedy, and Article 4 of Protocol 4 (A4P4), which prohibits collective expulsions.
Amnesty International has long documented violence and abuses of human rights at the Latvian, Lithuanian, and Polish borders with Belarus. In these countries, abuse of emergency powers has escalated into several human rights violations, including unlawful returns, torture and other ill-treatment, arbitrary detention, and the use of intimidation and violence to force people to return “voluntarily”.
For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact Amnesty International’s press office:
+32 483 680 812
X: @amnestypress
