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The Council of Europe must follow the developments concerning the displacement of foreign nationals near the EU-Belarusian border organised by the Lukashenko regime, stressed Inese Lībiņa‑Egnere, Deputy Speaker of the Saeima and Head of the Latvian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on Thursday, 30 September, at the PACE session in Strasbourg.

Lībiņa-Egnere communicated PACE’s decision to call on the Council of Europe to establish a permanent group or structure tasked with following the human rights situation in Belarus, including monitoring the condition of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers from Belarus.

The Latvian, Lithuanian, and Polish delegations to PACE were the ones to propose the initiative to hold an emergency debate and prepare a statement concerning the situation on the borders of the three countries with Belarus, noted Lībiņa-Egnere.

Today, Krista Baumane and Uldis Budriķis, members of the Latvian delegation to PACE, participated in the PACE session debates, where a statement on the pressure created by migrants near the borders of Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland with Belarus was examined.

During the debate, member of the Latvian delegation to PACE Krista Baumane emphasised that the events near the Belarusian border could be considered a cynical human trafficking operation organised by Lukashenko’s regime. Moreover, Uldis Budriķis underlined that the security of the external borders of Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, EU, and, ultimately, NATO, should remain the top priority, even though attacks are carried out in the form of migrant flows and disinformation, instead of tanks.

Inese Lībiņa-Egnere, Krista Baumane, Uldis Budriķis, and Boriss Cilevičs, members of the Latvian delegation to PACE, are currently participating in the PACE session in Strasbourg, France.

PACE is a statutory body of the Council of Europe focusing on the protection of human rights, pluralist democracy and the rule of law, promotion of the understanding and development of European cultural identity and diversity, and seeking solutions to problems facing the European society, as well as strengthening democratic stability in Europe by supporting political, legislative, and constitutional reforms.

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Saeima Press Service