Report on the situation on the Latvian-Belarusian border II

Conducted by: Anna E. Griķe, Elvīra Brinkmane-Druze

From April 28 to August 15, 6559 people have been prevented from crossing the Latvia–Belarus border, while seven individuals have been admitted to the country on humanitarian grounds. It should be noted that since the beginning of this year, a total of 8490 border crossing attempts have been prevented, and during the warm season of the year, activity at the Latvia–Belarus border has been high. During the reporting period, more than 100 border crossing attempts have also been prevented daily, specifically: 148 on May 1, 123 on June 3, 121 on July 9, and 122 on July 19. This data can also be interpreted to understand the approximate number of people at the Latvia–Belarus border.

During this period, the GPB has received 64 messages via the emergency hotline sent by people who need humanitarian or medical assistance, as well as individuals looking for missing relatives. It should be noted that the primary function of the GPB emergency hotline is to provide access to emergency medical assistance for those individuals located at the border of Latvia. However, people at the border convey this number to others, which is why various messages are received through the phone. The operation of the hotline is ensured by GPB staff and volunteers.

1. The number of requests received is 64 for the period of April 28 and August 15, 2025. The requests have diminished since spring 2025.

A breakdown by weeks:

April 28 – May 4 – four messages
May 5 – May 11 – 14 messages
May 12 – May 18 – three messages
May 19 – May 25 – three messages
May 26 – June 1 – no messages
June 2 – June 8 – five messages
June 9 – June 15 – two messages
June 16 – June 22 – four messages
June 23 – June 29 – four messages
June 30 – July 6 – three messages
July 7 – July 13 – one message
July 14 – July 20 – six messages
July 21 – July 27 – four messages
July 28 – August 3 – two messages
August 4 – August 10 – one message
August 11 – August 15 – two messages

2. Division by country of origin, gender, sex and vulnerabilities when known shows that GPB has received most of its messages from people from Sudan and Somalia. These are mainly men or groups of men who reach out GPB Alarm phone. It is also almost impossible to have a breakdown of age since this information is provided the least. Nevertheless, among the requests, in one case, a message was received from a family in Afghanistan.
At least 17 people from Belarus have contacted GPB for advice:
– in three separate cases, unaccompanied minors from Sudan contacted GPB;
– in one case, a message was received from a man from Burundi;
– in one case, a message was received from a couple from Ethiopia, where the woman is pregnant. Most people who reach out seeking advice mention that their stay in Belarus is already without any valid visa documents or that they are soon about to expire. The main fear people face is deportation.

A breakdown by countries of origin showing the number of people referred to in the message:

Sudan – 20
Somalia – 13
Ethiopia – 11
Chad – 3
Morocco – 2
Cameroon – 1
Yemen – 1
Afghanistan – 1
Burundi – 1
Guinea – 1
Oman – 1
Eritrea – 1

3. At least seven out of 64 reports contained information about the disproportionate use of physical force by Latvian state officials. Four reports were about the need for medical assistance. Two reports mentioned missing relatives in Latvia, and two reports were about deaths at the border. One of the reports concerned a person whose body was found in Belarus, while the other was about the death of a person of Eritrean descent near border post 106 in Latvian territory after being violently pushed back from the border, being beaten and subjected to electric shocks.

A thematical breakdown of information regards Latvia:

Violent pushbacks at Latvia-Belarus border by Latvian State authorities: disproportionate use of force against one minor, one case of disproportionate use of an electric shock, one case of beating and application of electric shock resulting in death, one broken phone, several cases of pushback, including against a group of unaccompanied minors.

The need for medical assistance and the outcome: five reports, one of which involved an unaccompanied minor boy from Somalia who required emergency medical assistance. However, he did not wish to receive emergency medical care as it would involve the State Border Guard. In two cases, individuals were found to be on Belarusian territory. For one person who reported a need for medical assistance and for whom emergency medical help was called, no additional information is known from GPB. One person who reported a need for medical assistance was not found by the State Border Guard, but it was later discovered that this person had already died.

Search for missing relative in Latvia: two cases – a woman who is pregnant from Togo and a woman from Cameroon were reported missing after crossing the Latvia-Belarus border.

Border deaths: According to information provided by the SBG, three people died in 2025 after crossing the Latvia-Belarus border. The remains of two men were found on April 6 and April 19, while the remains of a woman were discovered on May 6 in Krāslava municipality.