Ms Frauke Ossig:

I note that one question from Senator Joe O’Reilly with regard to the border situation in Belarus, Poland and Lithuania was not answered. The question was how many actually made it into Poland and Lithuania. For Lithuania, we know that in the five detention centres there are approximately 3,500 people who are waiting for an answer on the asylum claim they have been putting in place. The chances that their asylum claim request will be answered positively is very low, if we look at the last results that have been brought forward. People have been waiting for five to six months already and they have remained in detention for the whole time. For Poland, we do not have exact numbers because we have had no access to the detention centres but we believe that approximately 4,000 people are in the detention centres. We know from two centres we have been visiting that people do not have any idea what their status is.

It is people who are either waiting for an outcome of a potential asylum procedure or for deportation to countries of origin.