Individual approach should be applied on eastern boarder to ensure rights of less protected people - Golubeva

RIGA - The state of emergency on Latvia's eastern border should be implemented in line with international rights, therefore individual approach should  be applied in order to ensure rights of less protected people and prevent threats to life, said Interior Minister Marija Golubeva (For Development) during the meeting with Chief Ombudsman Juris Jansons today.

The minister said that Latvia is aware of its international obligations and duties based on democracy and the rule of law. Border guards have been instructed to assess each case individually in order to ensure rights of less protected people and prevent threats or life or any other significant threats.

As reported, border guards prevented 62 persons from illegally entering Latvia from Belarus on Sunday.

Since August 10, a total of 395 persons have been stopped from crossing from Belarus into Latvia.

One person was detained last Friday for illegally crossing the Latvian border. This person - a woman with apparent disabilities - was let into Latvia on humanitarian grounds. It is not known at the moment whether she has requested asylum in Latvia.

Since August 11 when a state of emergency was declared along Latvia's border with Belarus to deal with an increased migrant traffic, the aforementioned woman is the only person detained on Latvian territory after illegally crossing the border.