Humanitarian--Red Cross in Lithuania--Border Camps for Refugees

 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints donated needed underwear and shoes to the Refugee camps along the border of Lithuania and Belarus.

Camp for Refugees: Pabradė

There are 5 camps open for Refugees in Lithuania: Medininkai, Pabrade, Rukla, Vilniaus, Kybartai.

After the Medininkai facility is closed, irregular migrants will be accommodated at four remaining registration centres across Lithuania: in Pabradė, Rukla, Vilnius, and Kybartai.

The five centres currently house around 1,400 irregular migrants in total. (2021)

Almost 4,200 irregular migrants crossed into Lithuania from Belarus last year.

All irregular migrants in Lithuania were moved out of tent camps October 1, 2022.

In Pabrade, where we visited, are 400 refugees. Refugees came from Iraq, Camaroon, Africa, and other parts of Africa, and other countries. They were refugees without papers. Their papers were taken from them either before they entered Belarus or at the border of Belarus. Pabrade is about 9 kilometers from the Belarus border and about 1 hour drive north to Vilnius.

Red Cross works with the refugees trying to preserve their dignity, help with clothing and psychological needs. Miglė Miliauskaitė, the Red Cross representative drove us to the camp. We met one of the psychologists who had worked at the camp for 1 year.

She talked about the food, which is not very good. They are not allowed to cook their own food so a van comes to the camp with prepared food.

There are separate buildings, one for men, and one for women, fenced and guarded for the prisoners. There are about 10 prisoners.

There are two container housing areas. One is fenced with barb wire. Those that live there are able to leave their area and walk around the perimeter for about 2 hours.

The others can leave the complex during the day with a pass, but have to return at a certain time.

There is a brick housing building that are for women similar to the one below in this picture.

We were not allowed to take photos of this government facility. We were honored to be allowed in the complex to assess the nature of the camps for our humanitarian work.

We saw a large flat area that was used for tents that are no longer there. There are no children is camp, they have moved with their families to another camp.

Pabrade is home to single refugees, or married refugees without children. 

These are similar to the containers that the refugee lives in.

The Red Cross has offices that are containers in the complex.

Because these refugees have no papers they are only allowed to stay in the camp for a year. They are supposed to be sent back the country.

Loop-hole. It is illegal for immigrants to be admitted into the country without legal papers. So, if they don’t have legal papers, they are not allowed to leave the country in which they had been living, which is in Lithuania in these camps.

We heard that some refugees try to make it to Germany, and if they succeed and are caught then they are sent back to Lithuania or their own country. Germany is an asylum seeker country, and assess the situation. Those that are caught will either be sent back to their original country, which they are refused because they sought asylum elsewhere, and then they are sent back to Lithuania where they have been refugees at the camps. It is a vicious cycle.

Some refugees are able to have success stories and get help through Red Cross or the government to move on.