Although Operation ‘Werewolf’ has improved the situation at the border, officials report significant problems both in terms of border security and in dealing with people who have already arrived in Latvia, Latvian Radio reported on October 11.
To curb illegal border crossings, Operation ‘Werewolf’ has been underway since 1 August, with border guards supported by the National Armed Forces and the police. The operation involves additional deployments, jointly coordinated resources and aerial surveillance. General Ivars Ruskulis, Deputy Commander of the State Border Guard, said that the migratory pressure organised by the Russian and Belarusian regimes continues, but significant improvements have been observed, facilitated by increased resources.
“It is fair to say that the number of those detained has halved. The number of people detected after entering Lithuania and Estonia has also fallen. This demonstrates the operation’s effectiveness. The number of [migrant] smugglers has also fallen. Whereas previously we were detecting and detaining three to four or five smugglers a week, the figure is now one to two a week,” said Ruskulis.
At the same time, the Border Guard General emphasises that the risks of illegal border crossings remain high and that migrants are becoming increasingly aggressive.
Both the border fence and other infrastructure are constantly being damaged. Ruskulis points out that the outcome depends on the available resources. At times when army personnel are required for other tasks, the number of migrants fleeing to neighbouring countries – Lithuania and Estonia – rises. Border guards anticipate that, as temperatures drop, pressure on the border will increase and migrants will become more aggressive. At the same time, the cold weather will also pose risks to migrants’ health. This means that additional medical resources will also need to be deployed.
Complications in the processing of asylum cases
This year, the Border Guard has identified 115 people smuggling migrants. Meanwhile, the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs had received 1,230 initial asylum applications by 4 October. This year, refugee status has been granted to 37 people, whilst subsidiary protection status has been granted to 69. The largest number of asylum seekers come from Afghanistan, followed by Pakistan and Somalia.
One of the challenges is establishing a person’s identity. Many do not have the original documents, but only photographs of them on their mobile phones. Līga Vijupe, Head of the Office’s Asylum Affairs Division, explains that doubts sometimes arise regarding the nationality a person claims to hold.
“Very, very few people have genuine documents. And so, during the examination of an application, there are cases where there are reasonable doubts as to whether the document presented relates to the specific person standing before us. This is evidenced, for example, by the language and dialect they use, as well as what they are able to tell us about their life in Afghanistan,” said Vijupe.
Additional work is also caused by people leaving before their case has been examined. If an asylum seeker leaves the centre, the procedure may be suspended. However, once they are taken back from a neighbouring country, the examination of the case must be resumed. Consequently, staff resources must be spent again on examining the very same case. Returning to Latvia does not mean immediate removal: the person may request that the examination of their asylum case continue. The Ministry of the Interior also points to cases where a person disappears before the border guards have had time to enforce the removal decision.
This year, Latvia has taken in more than one and a half thousand people from Lithuania and Estonia who had arrived there from Latvia. Almost a third of them had already begun the asylum procedure in Latvia.
The Office has recruited additional staff and reorganised its work. Around 40 interviews take place each week, and 30–40 negative decisions are issued. According to the Office, when examining asylum applications submitted since 12 June, the refusal to grant asylum and the decision on return are now combined into a single case. However, cases submitted earlier continue to be processed under the previous procedure, which means that staff must work according to different procedures simultaneously.
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