The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, described as intolerable the migration crisis on the border between Poland and Belarus and demanded immediate humanitarian access. Bachelet also criticized the responses focused on security and the inflammatory speeches that violate migrants who camp with the intention of entering Polish territory and moving to Western European countries.
Fences and troop deployment
The arrival of more than 2,000 migrants, mostly from Syria and Iraq, to the border of Belarus and Poland in recent days was met with strong rejection by the Warsaw authorities. In a statement, the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, made an urgent call for the States involved to take immediate measures “to deactivate and resolve this intolerable situation in accordance with their obligations under international law, of human rights and the rights of refugees ”
“The responses strongly focused on security and politics from both sides -including the greater deployment of troops– and the incendiary rhetoric that accompanies them, they do nothing but exacerbate the vulnerability and risks faced by migrantss “, denounced the UN High Commissioner.
“Hundreds of men, women and children should not be forced to spend another night in a frigid climate without adequate shelter, food, water and medical care.“He added in the text. Although the statement does not make explicit reference to Warsaw’s rejection of refugees at its border, Bachelet stressed that no one can be prevented from seeking asylum and other forms of international protection. “I ask the authorities involved to guarantee that the human rights of these individuals is the central concern,” said the high commissioner, who in turn called for the transit of humanitarian aid to them, as well as observers from civil society and journalists.
Instead, the focus of the Polish far-right government is on the deployment of troops to prevent migrants from entering the territory of the European Union. The President of Poland, Andrzej Duda, confirmed that his country maintains 15,000 troops at the border, including military, police, and border guard. Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak assured that if necessary that number will increase, in turn affirmed that this week 8,000 troops from the Territorial Defense Forces were mobilized.
Accusations between Warsaw and Minsk
To all this, the European Union accuses the President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, of orchestrating the arrival of migrants to his country and then sending them to the border point. According to EU leaders, this is in retaliation for the sanctions that the bloc imposed against Minsk for the repression of the position in the last presidential elections in 2020.
While Belarus says it has neither the means nor the money to contain the flow of migrants and in turn accuses Poland of its “indifference” to receiving migrants and refugees. In this regard, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, traveled to Warsaw to meet with Duda. Michel called the migration crisis a “hybrid, brutal, violent and unworthy attack” by Minsk.
For her part, the outgoing Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin, to intervene and dialogue with his ally Lukashenko. The German head of state asked him to act against “the instrumentalization of migrants by the regime in Belarus,” according to her spokesperson Steffen Seibert. Most of the migrants seek to pass to Poland with the aim of reaching Germany or other Western European countries.
Moscow opposes blaming Belarus for the migration crisis. “The current crisis has its origin in the interference of the West in the affairs of countries of the Middle East and North Africa, as well as in the failure of the US operation in Afghanistan”declared the spokeswoman for Russian diplomacy, Maria Zajárova.
Poland and anti-immigration policy
While in between, thousands of migrants face extreme conditions with temperatures dropping to 0 degrees at night and the massive deployment of Polish security forces. The Polish press confirmed the death of at least 10 people among the migrants at the border. The Belarusian Border Guard said that four Kurdish migrants in the camp were injured and accused the Polish security forces of having violated them. “According to the refugees, they were detained on the territory of Poland, where they tried to ask for protection and refugee status”, they said in a statement.
Various human rights organizations have expressed concern about Warsaw’s anti-immigration policy, which in recent months erected a fence in the border area. In September, four migrants trapped on the Belarusian-Polish border died of hypothermia and exhaustion, according to the British newspaper. The Guardian. Amnesty International and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees point out that Poland takes a stand against international law by making hot returns instead of offering asylum.
In this sense, the UNHCR High Commissioner Filippo Grandi, affirmed that the challenges of the European bloc regarding migratory flows to the EU “do not justify the visceral reaction that we see in some parts, the xenophobic discourses, the walls, the barbed wire, the violent shoves, the beatings of refugees.” part, described as “unacceptable” that states encourage the displacement of vulnerable people.
.