In its latest report, Amnesty International interviewed 75 people, including Iraqis, who were “lured into Belarus between July and November 2021 by a false promise of easily crossing into the EU,” gathering new evidence that reveals the brutal violence committed allegedly by the Belarusian forces against the migrants on the Belarusian-Polish border.
“Amnesty International’s research revealed beatings and other serious torture or other ill-treatment, including people being deprived of food, water, shelter, and sanitation, as well as theft of phones and money or extortion for bribes by members of Belarusian forces,” read the report.
Thousands of people, many of them Iraqi Kurds, have traveled to Belarus in recent months with the help of Kurdish smugglers, hoping to reach western Europe in a search for jobs and opportunities they feel they cannot access at home where unemployment is high and political tensions, corruption, and instability leave them with little hope for their future.
In response, Poland has tightened its border security. Some migrants on the Belarus-Poland border have sustained injuries, and several others have lost their lives as they were fenced in with no food or water.
A Kurdish migrant told Amnesty he was hit by “knuckle dusters” and kicked with steel-toed boots.
“Some had iron finger boxing rings and steel tipped boots. They kicked us while we were lying on [the] ground. They made us hand over money and phones. My body was left black and blue,” the watchdog quoted him as saying.
A Syrian Kurdish family also told Amnesty that they ate once per day. “We were almost unconscious sometimes and were hungry and thirsty and couldn’t find any help, neither from Polish soldiers nor the Belarusians.”
The exodus of Kurds is part of a migrant crisis that has compelled European nations to fortify their borders. Tensions are high between Belarus and Europe. Minsk has been accused of exploiting the migrants and using them as a pressure tactic against the European Union in response to sanctions imposed upon the Belarusian regime. Poland has refused to take in any migrants, instead calling on them to return home.
Several migrants attempted to enter into Poland by destroying the frontier between the country and Belarus, but were pushed back.
A Yazidi man told Amnesty International that, “he was apprehended by Polish forces and, along with several other men, taken to a small river marking the border with Belarus.”
“The river was only about 10 or 15 meters-wide but it was deep and fast moving. They forced us off the vehicles and pushed us into the water. Anyone who didn’t get in the river was beaten with batons. [They] also had dogs. Women and kids and also some men were taken elsewhere. I saw one man taken away by the current. If you couldn’t swim, you drowned”.
At the beginning of the month, the European Commission proposed emergency measures that would allow Poland, Latvia and Lithuania to derogate from asylum protections, meaning expanded detention, border procedures, delays in registering asylum appeals, and reduced reception conditions for migrants attempting to cross their borders.
Iraq began offering repatriation flights last month, returning over 3,000 Iraqi and Kurdish migrants from Minsk. The tenth evacuation flight brought back over 200 Iraqis.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has acknowledged the existence of systemic problems and financial hardships, but says it is working to address these issues. However, despite government efforts and the horrors the migrants have faced in Belarus, they are still willing to risk it all to leave the Kurdistan Region.
