Thread by @AdrianaTdn

1/For 460 days Latvia's borders with Belarus have been under a “state of emergency” which allows border guards to push back refugees & migrants and suspends the right to seek asylum. Latvia denies these human rights violations. @amnesty report, out today, tells a different story.

@amnesty 2/We interviewed people, some with small children, stranded at #Latvia's border in 2021-2022.
They painfully described Latvian forces using tasers on their body, beating and humiliating them and nights spent sleeping on the snow, scared of bears & wolves. Take their word for it:

3/Beatings, forced nudity, torture and humiliation have nothing to do with border control.

4/People described "commandos" working with Latvian border guards, gratuitously using tasers on their bodies including genitals.
This constitutes torture.
Latvia denies officers having #tasers but law allows them.

These acts must be urgently investigated.⚖️

5/It is not only a migration & asylum issue.
The state of emergency restricts access to the border, affecting media workers and NGOs' ability to monitor.

@coe @CommissionerHR is concerned this has "prevented effective transparency and accountability for measures" at the border.

6/Without external scrutiny, people interviewed reported spending months stranded at the border, including being held in *tents* in undisclosed locations.
Latvian authorities only maintain using tents for humanitarian reasons.
The reality of people's experiences was much bleaker

7/Sometimes people were forced to go to tents after an initial apprehension.
Inside, they were kept held in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions, forced to “shower” in the open, on the snow, heavily supervised and sometimes beaten for misbehaving.

8/Families back home were left in the dark.
People were held in undisclosed locations, having had their phones confiscated; left without safe alternatives to being continuously, violently pushed back between Latvia and Belarus.
This practice may constitute enforced disappearance

9/A small number of people were taken out of the border area and put into detention centres.
Yet, our research shows that some were only taken out after agreeing to return to their home countries under threats or coercion.
Many had already experienced pushbacks and abuses

10/Others were forced or misled to agree to return once in police stations or detention centers.
There, their attempts to report the abuses at the border to officers or judges fell on deaf ears.
@amnesty welcomed the @CoE_CPT visit to Latvian migration detention facilities in May

11/@amnesty is concerned that @UNmigration Latvia representative ignored evidence that people transferred in some “voluntary” returns had not given their consent.
IOM’s policy states that migrants’ agency & consent must be respected in returns and violations should be reported.

@amnesty @UNmigration 12/In Latvian detention centers, people are held systematically and hence arbitrarily, with serious concerns about access to legal assistance and external communication.
Migrant and refugee #children, accompanied and not, are routinely detained, in violation of international law.

13/While accountability is still far away, some promising signs:
Latvia’s own Internal Security Bureau (IDB) has opened an investigation into police and border guards’ behaviour, currently pending.

Pushbacks and other abuses by Latvia are being considered by the @ECHR_CEDH.

14/Let’s not forget that this is happening at several #EU borders.
Amnesty previously denounced similar abuses in #Lithuania and #Poland.
@amnesty condemned #Belarus' actions for recklessly facilitating migrants’ movements and for abusing them. bit.ly/3CTeJ9v

15/#EU condones Latvia & other states' claims that they face “hybrid threats” proposing tools that would allow them to derogate from asylum law
In Lithuania @EUCourtPress clarified the limits to the use of emergency powers to curb migrants’ rights
The same should happen in Latvia

16/@Frontex has long been active in Latvia.
Given the serious violations of human rights reported, it should start the process to suspend or terminate activities.
Today, an #OLAF report revealed concerning information about FRONTEX’s approach to violations of rights in Greece.

17/@amnesty asks Latvia to
- End the state of emergency
- Restore the right to asylum for all people, no matter how they travel.
- Investigate abuses
We ask #EU to activate infringement proceedings and ensure Latvia establishes an Independent Border Monitoring Mechanism/END

Ah - and if this thread was interesting to you, the full report is at: amnesty.org/en/latest/news…