Human Rights Watch alleged abuses and illegal pushbacks at the border between Poland and Belarus, asking the Polish government for accountability towards rights of asylum seekers.
Violent illegal pushbacks of asylum seekers are taking place at the border between Poland and Belarus, a report by Human Rights Watch revealed on Tuesday (10 December).
The report, based on in-depth interviews conducted in November 2024 with 22 asylum seekers, states that border officers are preventing individuals arriving from Belarus from applying for asylum, even after they have crossed into Polish territory. This includes cases where Polish border officials apprehended migrants several kilometers inside Poland.
Some migrants interviewed had been forced to sign a document, whose contents they didn’t not understand, and were immediately forced to leave the country, pushed towards fences, the report claims. The migrants later discovered that the document said that the individual did not want to apply for asylum, it is alleged.
When back on the Belarussian side of the border, people often endure harsh conditions outdoors or face abuse by Belarusian officials, who frequently force them back into Poland, Human Rights Watch claims in the report.
Under international law, third country nationals entering the EU have the right to apply for protection and application processes should be considered individually, otherwise they are deemed an illegal ‘pushback’.
Since Donald Tusk became prime minister of Poland in December 2023, a military zone was re-established along a 60-kilometer stretch of the border with Belarus.
The NGO accused Polish authorities of blocking independent monitoring and humanitarian aid for people stranded in the Białowieża forest.
In February, the Polish government reported having rejected more than 6,000 people between early July 2023, when it began tracking these actions, and mid-January 2024.
“Poland has adopted recently a comprehensive migration strategy. This includes dealing with the risks, as well as humanitarian visas or support for the people in need. Human rights are a priority for the Polish government, and so is the security of the Poles and Europeans,” a spokesperson from the Polish authorities told Euronews.
“The situation on the Eastern border of the EU is exceptional where dictatorial regimes organise pressure to destablise the EU. We are witnessing smuggling of the people, the attacks on the border guards,” the spokesperson said.
“It is not Putin or Lukashenko that should decide who enters the EU,” the spokesperson added.
“Poland’s pushbacks violate national and EU law as well as basic humanity,” said Lydia Gall of Human Rights Watch. She urged Poland, as the next EU presidency holder, to set an example by protecting asylum seekers’ rights and ensuring humane treatment.
A European Commission spokesperson said it “condemns the hybrid attacks orchestrated by Russia and Belarus at our external borders, and it is imperative to protect the security and the territorial integrity of our union and of our citizens”.
However, the spokesperson also said that “migration has to be managed in a dignified and humane way” and that “efficient border management in this context must be firmly rooted in the respect of fundamental rights”.
On Wednesday, European Commissioners will present a communication on countering hybrid threats and strengthening security at the EU’s external borders. This comes in response to recent actions by Belarus and Russia, which have facilitated the arrival of asylum seekers to the EU from their territories, a development that Brussels and member states have classified as a ‘hybrid threat’.
In October, the Polish government announced a migration strategy, still pending implementation, which includes a “temporary suspension of the right to asylum” for national security reasons, citing Belarus’ role in using migration as a means to create political ‘instability’ in Europe.
By 12 December European member states should submit to the Commission implementation plans of the migration pact, a group of legislative files approved during the last mandate, which will regulate border procedures for people arriving in the EU territory seeking asylum.
