Over the last few years, thousands of migrants have either tried or succeeded in crossing the Polish border from Belarus. This has destabilized not only Poland but the entire European Union. Recently the Polish government has proposed some very controversial measures, like the possibility of suspension of the asylum right. Clearly, this has sparked the outrage of various human rights groups, who worry about the devastating results that could come from this.
The Polish-Belarussian border crisis
The migration crisis on the Belarus-Poland border started in August of 2021, since then tens of thousands of migrants have attempted crossing the border in the EU. This led the Polish government to build a fence in order to secure the border. During this crisis there have been serious concerns regarding human rights violations of migrants, both in the Belarussian and Polish side. According to Human Rights Watch, the Polish police would often push migrants who had just crossed the border back to Belarus, even violently, and without due process and the possibility to ask for asylum. On the other hand, Belarussian authorities have been accused of violent beatings, as well as inhumane and degrading treatment (Violence and Pushbacks at Poland-Belarus Border, 2022).
After the tensions in 2021 found harsh responses directed by the previous Law and Justice Polish government, a new set of measures followed the death of a Polish officer, who passed away on May 29th from his wounds following an attack from a migrant. This pushed Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk to create an exclusion zone, whose purpose is to ban unauthorized people from entering within 200 meters of the Polish border, this distance will reach even two kilometers in other areas (Piekarski, 2024).
This year approximately 26,000 people, mostly from the Middle East and Africa, crossed the border from Belarus. Now Donald Tusk is advancing the possibility of a temporary suspension of asylum rights for new migrants (Gavin, 2024). The Polish Prime Minister affirms that Russia and Belarus are abusing the EU asylum rights. According to him, Belarus is encouraging the migrants to cross the Polish border as a form of a “hybrid war” tactic that the Belarusian and Russian governments are using to destabilize the bloc (Gavin, Poland to suspend right to asylum as ‘hybrid war’ escalates on Belarus border, 2024). Commissioner for Human Rights O’Flaherty on the one hand acknowledges the challenges posed by the migration crisis, on the other hand heis concerned regarding the violation of human rights against migrants on the border. Indeed, since 2021, Poland has started a policy of summary returns, without assessing the individual cases. This could result in exposing vulnerable people to violations of human rights protected by the Convention on Human Rights (Poland needs to respect its international human rights obligations on the Belarusian border, says Commissioner O’Flaherty, 23).
Similar measures from other European countries
The suspension of asylum rights by Poland would mirror a temporary law adopted by the Finnish Parliament in June, with the same purpose of pushing back migrants. The provision declares some limits in applications for asylums. The Finnish border guards can make some exceptions for cases in which people are considered particularly vulnerable. However, it is doubted if the officials are capable of making those distinctions without any specific training in assessing dangerous situations (Finland: Emergency law on migration is a “green light for violence and pushbacks at the border”, 2024).
Even though the new measure Poland intended to implement raised some questions, it now seems it has been backed by the other European leaders. In fact, after the European leaders met earlier this month a statement was put out reading: “Russia and Belarus, or any other country, cannot be allowed to abuse our values, including the right to asylum, and to undermine our democracies”. As a consequence of right-wing parties leading all across Europe, there have been discussions about using all possible instruments to fight migrations, including building centers outside the bloc’s borders and giving member states the possibility to shut their external borders for security concerns (Nicholas Vinocur, 2024).
In conclusion, the migration crisis at the Polish border raises some relevant concerns regarding the treatment of migrants. The solutions proposed by the Polish government follow the general tendency of other European countries, which are in favour of harsher measures at the borders. However, the political choices should not come at the expense of protecting human rights, especially of those who are in the most vulnerable positions.
Bibliography
Finland: Emergency law on migration is a “green light for violence and pushbacks at the border”. (2024, June 10). Tratto da Amnesty International: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/06/finland-emergency-law-on-migration-is-a-green-light-for-violence-and-pushbacks-at-the-border/
Gavin, G. (2024, October 14). EU warns Poland over bombshell plan to suspend asylum claims . Tratto da Politico: https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-warns-poland-asylum-claim-suspension/
Nicholas Vinocur, C. C. (2024, October 17). Poland wins after EU backs its proposed asylum ban for Russia, Belarus. Tratto da Politico: https://www.politico.eu/article/poland-prime-minister-donald-tusk-eu-asylum-ban-russia-belarus-migration-security/
Piekarski, M. (2024, June 12). The renewed Poland-Belarus border crisis explained. Tratto da Notes from Poland: https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/06/12/the-renewed-poland-belarus-border-crisis-explained/
Poland needs to respect its international human rights obligations on the Belarusian border, says Commissioner O’Flaherty. (23, September 2024). Tratto da Council Of Europe: https://www.coe.int/en/web/portal/-/poland-needs-to-respect-its-international-human-rights-obligations-on-the-belarusian-border-says-commissioner-o-flaherty
Violence and Pushbacks at Poland-Belarus Border. (2022, June 7). Tratto da Human Rights Watch: https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/06/07/violence-and-pushbacks-poland-belarus-border
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