BAGHDAD - The European Union is engaged in an extensive diplomatic effort to stop the flow of migrants from Iraq, the Kurdistan Region, Syria, and other countries traveling to Belarus with the hopes of entering western Europe. Vice President of the European Commission Margaritis Schinas visited Baghdad on Monday and met with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi. In an exclusive interview with Rudaw, he said Europe wants to make sure the people of Iraq "do not buy the lies of the smugglers and that we can do the best we can to bring them back and help them start anew."
Thousands of migrants, many of them Kurds from Iraq, are camped out in the freezing cold on the Belarusian border with Poland. They are trapped in a standoff between Belarus and the European Union.
Schinas accused Minsk of "weaponizing human suffering" by using migrants to “attack” the EU in protest over sanctions and said they have proof that the government of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is working with smugglers. "We have ample evidence and trustworthy intelligence that shows there is indeed collusion between international smuggling networks and the Lukashenko regime in Belarus," he said.
Minsk facilitates visas for migrants, he explained, and once they land in Belarus they are escorted by special forces and ferried to the border where they are abandoned. The Polish border is closed to the migrants. They "are not allowed neither to go in neither to come back,” said Schinas.
Belarus’ neighbours have fortified their borders against the migrants and Polish border forces have used water cannons and tear gas to drive them back.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) estimates that 8,000 Kurds have traveled through Belarus. Many are young people who have left the country in search of jobs and opportunities they feel they cannot get at home where unemployment is high and political tensions and instability leave them with little hope for their future.
KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on Tuesday said the migrants are being “exploited” by “human traffickers.” He acknowledged that the Region has had economic difficulties, brought on by low oil prices, the pandemic, and budget disputes with Baghdad, but said his cabinet has made progress with reforms and job creation. “Many want to go to Europe in search of a different opportunity; it’s not the flee of desperation,” he said.
Schinas said he had hoped to visit Erbil and meet with Kurdistan Region officials but was told "the leadership of the KRG are not in town." He said he would be open to visiting at another time to talk to the KRG leadership and enlist their help to share the message not to travel to Belarus, saying “this is a moment where Europe counts its friends and we would like to believe that we have friends in Erbil.”
