Poland Urged To Allow Entry For Afghans Stuck At Border With Belarus
Polish soldiers and Afghan refugees near the village of Usnarz Gorny in eastern Poland.
Amnesty International is urging Poland to allow entry and provide humanitarian assistance to a group of 32 people from Afghanistan who have been held at the border between Poland and Belarus without proper food, clean water, shelter, and medicine for two weeks.
Amnesty International said in a statement on August 25 that it obtained reports about the use of force and threats of violence by Polish border guards when pushing the group back to Belarus.
“These people are fleeing a desperate situation in Afghanistan. By surrounding them with armed border guards, Poland is showing a callous response to their plight,” according to the London-based human rights watchdog.
Standoff On Belarus-Poland Border As Stance Hardens Toward ‘Weaponized’ Migrants
1/10A migrant on the border with Belarus on August 23. The man is part of a group of migrants claiming to be from Afghanistan caught in a bizarre standoff between Polish and Belarusian border guards.
A group of migrants apparently shipped to the border of the European Union by Belarusian authorities is stranded in no man's land as Polish police prevent them from stepping foot on EU soil.
2/10The group of migrants, photographed between an armed Polish serviceman (in foreground) and Belarusian police. The standoff comes amid a surge in mostly Middle Eastern migrants entering the EU illegally from Belarus. European authorities accuse Minsk of deliberately engineering the crisis as a reaction to sanctions imposed by the EU since Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka's crackdown began following a disputed election one year ago.
A group of migrants apparently shipped to the border of the European Union by Belarusian authorities is stranded in no man's land as Polish police prevent them from stepping foot on EU soil.
3/10Polish border police face off against their Belarusian counterparts (right), with the migrants stranded in the middle. The group has reportedly been stranded in the open near the Polish village of Usnarz Gorny for two weeks. Temperatures in the area have dropped to around 10 degrees Celsius on recent mornings.
A group of migrants apparently shipped to the border of the European Union by Belarusian authorities is stranded in no man's land as Polish police prevent them from stepping foot on EU soil.
4/10Migrants gather near a fence at a temporary detention center in Kazitiskis, Lithuania, on August 12.
The stalemate on the Poland-Belarus border follows Lithuania's decision in early August to physically force migrants back into Belarus after more than 4,000 illegally entered that Baltic country from Belarus in the space of a few months in 2021.
A group of migrants apparently shipped to the border of the European Union by Belarusian authorities is stranded in no man's land as Polish police prevent them from stepping foot on EU soil.
5/10A stranded migrant seen behind Polish servicemen.
Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak announced on August 23 that Poland would be erecting a fence along the border with Belarus and that troop numbers stationed to deal with the border influx would be doubled to 2,000.
A group of migrants apparently shipped to the border of the European Union by Belarusian authorities is stranded in no man's land as Polish police prevent them from stepping foot on EU soil.
6/10The stranded migrants photographed on August 20.
Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz told reporters that the group near Usnarz Gorny "are not refugees, they are economic migrants brought in by the Belarusian government.”
A group of migrants apparently shipped to the border of the European Union by Belarusian authorities is stranded in no man's land as Polish police prevent them from stepping foot on EU soil.
7/10Poland’s border authorities say they apprehended the migrant group before they reached Polish territory. The Polish human rights ombudsman said the Border Guard had violated the Geneva Conventions by not accepting verbal declarations from some of the migrants that they wanted to apply for international protection in Poland.
A group of migrants apparently shipped to the border of the European Union by Belarusian authorities is stranded in no man's land as Polish police prevent them from stepping foot on EU soil.
8/10Activists on August 23 behind coils of barbed wire at the headquarters of Poland's Border Guards to protest the stance taken by the authorities.
A group of migrants apparently shipped to the border of the European Union by Belarusian authorities is stranded in no man's land as Polish police prevent them from stepping foot on EU soil.
9/10The United Nations refugee agency, the UNHCR, has urged Poland to take in the stranded migrants, saying, “While we acknowledge the challenges posed by recent arrivals to Poland, we call on the Polish authorities to provide access to territory, immediate medical assistance, legal advice, and psychosocial support to these people.”
A group of migrants apparently shipped to the border of the European Union by Belarusian authorities is stranded in no man's land as Polish police prevent them from stepping foot on EU soil.
10/10Polish and Belarusian border markers divided by rolls of razor wire.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki says accepting migrants entering from Belarus would be bowing to “blackmail” from Minsk. On August 24, Morawiecki told reporters that the stranded migrants are on Belarusian territory, adding that “If someone on the Belarusian side wants to apply for refugee status, please do so in Minsk.”
A group of migrants apparently shipped to the border of the European Union by Belarusian authorities is stranded in no man's land as Polish police prevent them from stepping foot on EU soil.
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Polish and Belarusian border guards have been keeping the migrants trapped in a small area on the border, as both countries avoid responsibility for them.
Belarus has been accused of funneling migrants across the European Union borders, a claim Minsk denies.
Polish officials insist that the group of migrants will not be allowed into Poland, saying it would encourage further illegal migration and would play into the Belarusian government’s hands.
In recent months thousands of migrants, many from Iraq and Afghanistan, have illegally crossed from Belarus into Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland.
European officials condemned it as a "hybrid attack" by Belarus on the bloc in retaliation for EU sanctions over authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s crackdown on the country's pro-democracy movement following a disputed presidential election in August 2020.
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