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UPDATE: Poland accused of unlawful migrant treatment at border with Belarus

UPDATE: Leading human rights organization accuses Poland of unlawful and ‘violent’ treatment of migrants

14:30, 13.12.2024
  Franciszek Beszłej/md;
UPDATE: Leading human rights organization accuses Poland of unlawful and ‘violent’ treatment of migrants A leading human rights organization has accused Polish authorities of “unlawfully and sometimes violently” forcing migrants back into Belarus without assessing their need for protection.

A leading human rights organization has accused Polish authorities of “unlawfully and sometimes violently” forcing migrants back into Belarus without assessing their need for protection.

The Polish-Belarusian border has been a migration hotspot since 2021. Photo by Attila Husejnow/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
The Polish-Belarusian border has been a migration hotspot since 2021. Photo by Attila Husejnow/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

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Podziel się:   Więcej
Human Rights Watch (HRW) made the accusations in a new report on the situation on the Polish-Belarusian border based on 22 in-depth interviews with asylum seekers currently residing in Poland.

The report said that 17 out of 22 individuals experienced “at least one pushback by Polish border officials in 2024 before successfully entering Poland and being allowed to apply for asylum.”

In the interviews, the asylum seekers described “a consistent pattern of abuse by Polish border and law enforcement officials, including unlawful pushbacks, beatings with batons, use of pepper spray and destruction or confiscation of their phones,” HRW said.

A 28-year-old Somali woman stated that she and 11 others, after being taken to a border station for assistance, were forced to sign documents they did not understand before being pushed back into Belarus.

The HRW report also said conditions on the border could be fatal. It cited research by the civil society organization, We Are Monitoring, that documented 87 migrant deaths between September 2021 and October 2024, including 14 in 2024. HRW added that it was unable to verify the information.

In response to the accusations, Poland’s Interior Ministry told TVP World that its measures at the frontier are “necessary to ensure the protection of the border”—which is also the external border of the European Union—and “to safeguard national security in the face of the instrumentalization of migration.”

The ministry said that border guard officers use measures that are "proportionate” to prevent illegal crossings and “protect their own security in threatening situations.”

It also noted that “all cases of deaths at the border are duly investigated by the prosecutor’s office.”

The Belarusian authorities were also implicated in the report. Migrants described being beaten, deprived of food and subjected to inhumane treatment, with some held in makeshift camps before being forced back toward Poland.

“They burned our food and supplies and told us to leave,” one Ethiopian woman said.

Polish law enforcement is unlawfully, and sometimes violently, forcing people trying to enter the country back to Belarus: https://t.co/wqK6n72iLz

HRW's @LydsG is at the Poland-Belarus border ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/sUWk3q5yj3
— Human Rights Watch (@hrw) December 10, 2024

New border security measures

The border area has been a migratory hot spot since 2021, which Polish authorities blame on a “hybrid war” tactic by Minsk.


Warsaw has accused the Belarusian state of attempting to destabilize Poland and the EU by luring thousands of migrants to the border on false promises of easy access to the Schengen zone.

Polish authorities have introduced migration policies, including proposed legislation to suspend asylum rights on national security grounds, which have faced criticism for violating EU laws.

Human Rights Watch called on the European Commission to hold Poland accountable, warning that such practices undermine the rule of law and the EU’s moral credibility.


This story has been updated to include the response of the Polish Interior Ministry

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