Together with our partner in Lithuania, the Human Rights Monitoring Institute (HRMI), the GDP submitted a joint report to the UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR) examining Lithuania’s immigration detention laws and policies.
Highlighting Lithuania’s failure to implement key recommendations it accepted during the third cycle of the UPR in 2022, the report documents ongoing concerns regarding the country’s treatment of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers–including restrictions on access to asylum, legal provisions permitting the detention of children, the use of “temporary accommodation” as de facto detention, and continued pushbacks at the border.
Immigration Detention
Despite supporting recommendations to “reconsider the period of detention of immigrants,” Lithuania’s legal framework continues to allow migrants to be detained for up to 18 months. The Law on the Legal Status of Aliens provides for an initial six-month detention period, which can be extended by a further 12 months in certain circumstances. Of particular concern, the law continues to permit the detention of children “as a last resort” (Article 114(3))–despite international consensus that the immigration detention of children is never in their best interests, and thus represents a child rights violation in every instance.
In 2023, Lithuania’s Constitutional Court ruled that provisions in the Aliens Law (providing for the automatic detention of all persons who irregularly enter the country during times of State-level emergency for up to six months) were unconstitutional–finding that restrictions on liberty must be based on an individual assessment rather than applied solely due to a person’s mode of entry. While subsequent legislative amendments introduced vulnerability assessments for asylum seekers, concerns remain that those deemed non-vulnerable may still be placed in “temporary accommodation” for up to five months, which observers have argued amounts to de facto detention.
Detention Conditions
Irregular arrivals in Lithuania are typically first held in border units, where they are accommodated in “container-type houses” before being transferred to the Pabradė Foreigners Reception Centre (FRC). In 2024, the Lithuanian Red Cross found that many people spent three to five days in these facilities, exceeding the 48-hour limit provided under national law, with some reporting poor conditions, including a lack of washing facilities and restrictions on contacting relatives.
While conditions at Pabradė FRC are reportedly better and have improved in recent years, concerns remain regarding access to interpreters, culturally appropriate food, and restrictions on daily life. The Lithuanian Red Cross has also raised concerns about the use of quarantine buildings for newly arrived migrants, including children, where access by monitors has been restricted and where individuals’ freedom of movement may be limited without clear legal safeguards against arbitrary or prolonged detention.
Restrictions on Access to Asylum and Pushbacks
In 2023, the Seimas passed legislative amendments to the Law on the State Border and its Protection, amongst which the introduction of an authorisation for border officials to push back migrants at the border during times of State-level emergency, without given them the possibility to claim asylum. (A State-level emergency was declared in 2021 due to the mass influx of foreigners from Belarus, and this essentially remains in effect as of July 2026.)
Bolstered by legislative amendments, Lithuania has continued to push-back refugees and asylum seekers at the country’s borders. The State Border Guard Service (SBGS) provides daily statistics on the number of foreigners denied entry from Belarus who attempted to enter Lithuania irregularly. According to these statistics, in 2025 border guards prevented the arrival of 1,652 foreigners in unauthorised locations, compared to 1,002 in 2024.
The conduct of push-backs is often violent and physically abusive. HRMI has documented numerous cases where individuals have been pushed back repeatedly, with asylum seekers stranded in limbo between Lithuania and Belarus–where they have been exposed to extreme weather and frostbite.
These practices continue to encourage migrants and asylum seekers to take dangerous routes through forests and natural obstacles in an attempt to reach Lithuania, exposing them to serious risk of life. In April 2025, the decomposed remains of three individuals were found in the Katra River at the Lithuania-Belarus border, in a remote and difficult to access part of the “Green Border” (stretches of Lithuania’s land border that are outside official border crossing points) with at least one body found on the Lithuanian side.
Recommendations
- Amend the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens to explicitly prohibit the detention of children, in-line with Lithuania’s international legal obligations as well as guidance provided by international experts, including the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.
- Ensure that conditions inside all detention facilities meet human rights standards, including adequate provision of culturally-appropriate food and hygiene products, access to sanitary facilities, and access to interpreters.
- Ensure full transparency by permitting full independent monitoring of all areas of the Pabradė FRC, including its quarantine building.
- Amend the Law on the State Border and its Protection, particularly Article 4(13), to ensure that provisions authorising refusal of entry and pushbacks are removed, and to ensure that any border control measures are compatible with the principle of non-refoulement and the right to seek asylum, regardless of mode of entry.
- Ensure access to territory for people seeking international protection, including by immediately ceasing pushback practices, and guaranteeing that border management measures do not expose migrants and asylum seekers to life-threatening risks.
- Ensure independent monitoring of border practices by national human rights institutions, civil society, and international organisations.
