Poland’s pushback of migrants violates the right to asylum under EU law: HRW

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Wednesday criticized the treatment of migrants on the Poland-Belarus border, calling the pushbacks of migrants  a violation of asylum rights under European Union law.

“While Belarus manufactured this situation without regard for the human consequences, Poland shares responsibility for the acute suffering in the border area,” Lydia Gall, senior Europe and Central Asia researcher at HRW, said.

“Men, women, and children have been ping-ponged across the border for days or weeks in freezing weather, desperately needing humanitarian assistance that is being blocked on both sides,” she added.

Thousands of people, many of them Iraqi Kurds but also including citizens of Syria, Yemen, and Afghanistan, have traveled to Belarus in recent months with the hope of reaching western Europe where they dream of better lives with more opportunities, but have instead found themselves trapped on Belarus’ borders with Poland and Lithuania.

Poland has been previously criticized for its pushback policy that prevents the migrants from making asylum claims and forcing them back at the borders.

In its new report published on Wednesday, based on interviews conducted by HRW, the NGO claims that Belarusian border guards have prevented migrants from leaving the border areas even if they are no longer attempting to cross the border again. “Consequently, migrants in some cases spend several days up to several weeks stuck on the border in the open, without shelter or access to basic necessities, including food and water,” it states.

At time of publication, the report claims that there have been 13 reported deaths in recent weeks.

HRW added that the actions and abuse of people on the borders from Belarus “ amounts at least to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” and “the abusive practices” should be halted, with those responsible held to account.

“Pushback practices by Polish border guards violate the right to asylum under EU law including the charter of fundamental rights, create a risk of chain refoulement [the forcible return of refugees or asylum seekers to a country where they are likely to be to be persecuted] contrary to international refugee law, and expose people to inhuman and degrading conditions, in violation of Polish and EU law,” added the statement.

The dire condition of thousands of people, young and old, in the cold with little food and water, has grabbed international headlines and mobilized Europe to cut off the migration route.

Most Kurdish migrants cite unemployment or underemployment, financial hardships, lack of hope for a future at home, as well as political instability, as reasons why they chose to make the journey. European Union nations have fortified their frontiers against the migrants and accused Minsk of manipulating the migrants in protest of sanctions imposed after contested presidential elections.

The Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) have begun registering the names of those who want to voluntarily return home. Over 400 people returned last week, 95 percent of whom were from the Kurdistan Region.

European Union members of the United Nations Security Council condemned Belarus for the migrant crisis on its borders and said they are united in protecting the EU against the pressure Minsk was trying to assert on its neighbours.

The EU has accused Belarus of pushing migrants to their borders in protest of sanctions imposed in response to a crackdown on dissent by the regime in Minsk. Belarus’ neighbours have responded by increasing security along their borders.

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