Poland begins asylum and integration process for 1,000 Afghan evacuees

The Polish authorities have begun processing asylum claims and providing care for more than a thousand Afghans evacuated from Kabul. Meanwhile, local communities where the refugees are housed have been gathering donations to help the new arrivals.

The government yesterday announced the end of its evacuation mission in Afghanistan, the primary purpose of which was to airlift out Afghans who had worked with Poland in the country, as well as their families. The prime minister yesterday pledged to “provide them with support here”.

Today, the state Office for Foreigners (UdSC) announced that 1,024 Afghan nationals are under its care following the evacuation. They have been provided with accommodation, food, medical care, and material assistance, including clothing and children’s toys.

The new arrivals must first undertake 10 days of quarantine, under Poland’s coronavirus regulations. Meanwhile, “the procedure for accepting applications for international protection has already started” and “actions to facilitate their integration will also be implemented”, said the UdSC.

The evacuated Afghans have been transferred to various residential centres around the country. In some, local communities have organised support for them.

In Grudziądz, a city of 95,000 in northern Poland, a local civic association (Stowarzyszenie Obywatelski Grudziądz) has arranged a collection for 70 Afghans, around 20-30 of them children, staying at a refugee centre in the area, reports Gazeta Pomorska.

“These people fled their homes and came to us with only what they were wearing,” said Beata Gurbin, head of the association. “All their belongings remained in Afghanistan. That is why they need practically everything.”

Throughout Friday, local residents and businesses dropped off donations, including bedding, hygiene products, clothes and toys. “Anyone could find themselves in a situation where they need help,” said Jolanta Górska, one of the donors. “It could also happen to us.”

The first transport of donations has already been given to the refugees. “They thanked us, you can see that the gratitude of these people is enormous,” Grudziądz’s deputy mayor, Szymon Gurbin, who helped deliver the supplies, told Gazeta Pomorska.

A similar collection has taken place in Suchy Bór, a small village in southern Poland where several dozen Afghans are in quarantine at a local facility.

“We will certainly not leave them without help,” the mayor, Andrzej Nowak, told Gazeta Wyborcza. A local association in the village has issued an appeal for donations.

“It’s hard not to be kind towards people in need,” said the head of the association, Joanna Kasprzak-Dżyberti. “Each of us has a similar family history of someone abroad – a brother, sister, friend, relative – who was helped by others.”

While Poland has taken in more than a thousand evacuated Afghans, it has also been preventing a group of around 30 Afghan nationals from crossing its border with Belarus, despite claims they are seeking asylum.

Warsaw argues that they are economic migrants whom Minsk is deliberately trying to send across the border as part of a “hybrid war” against Poland. The UN’s refugee agency, as well as Poland’s own commissioner for human rights, have, however, called for the Afghans to be admitted to Polish territory.

A poll published this week found that a majority of Poles are opposed to admitting migrants and refugees, while almost half support plans to build a barrier on the border.

Main image credit: UdSC_gov_pl/Twitter

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.