Foreign ministers from Italy and the other six G7 members on Thursday issued a strongly worded statement deploring the "orchestration" by Belarus of migration to the European Union in retaliation for the bloc's sanctions against the country's increasingly autocratic government.
"We, the G7 Foreign Ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States of America, and the High Representative of the EU, condemn the Belarus regime’s orchestration of irregular migration across its borders," read the statement.
"These callous acts are putting people’s lives at risk. We are united in our solidarity with Poland, as well as Lithuania and Latvia, who have been targeted by this provocative use of irregular migration as a hybrid tactic."
"We call on the regime to cease immediately its aggressive and exploitative campaign in order to prevent further deaths and suffering," the statement went on.
International organisations need to be given immediate and unhindered access to deliver humanitarian assistance to thousands of migrants trapped at the border between Belarus and Poland, the statement said.
"The actions of the Belarusian regime are an attempt to deflect attention from its ongoing disregard for international law, fundamental freedoms and human rights, including those of its own people," the statement underlined.
The statement commended the EU for working closely with migrants' countries of origin and transit to stop the influx of migrants to Belarus's borders.
"We will continue to work together to hold those responsible to account, and to support civil society and human rights in Belarus," the statement concluded.
