Human Rights Watch blames Belarus and Poland for “abuse” and “instrumentalisation” of migrants

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused Poland and Belarus of “shared responsibility for abuse” of migrants at their border. It also says that authorities in both countries have “cynically instrumentalised the migration issue”.

The NGO’s report, which is based on interviews and testimony gathered by its researchers during visits to both sides of the border, reveals accounts of migrants being beaten and abused by Belarusian officials. It also notes pushbacks by Polish border guards, as well as the separation of families.

HRW calls on the European Union to ensure that all migrants and asylum seekers are treated with dignity. It also wants Brussels – which has so far backed Warsaw over its response to the crisis – to pressure Poland to stop pushbacks and to end its ban on aid organisations and media at the border.

“I crossed many times to Poland but was pushed back to Belarus every time,” a 20-year-old Syrian, Abdul, told HRW. “I was in the forest for eight days…I didn’t have food or water.”

He spoke of the brutality of Belarusian forces, who have been orchestrating the border crossings. They “hit us with batons, kicked us, stepped on our necks to the point that we cried…They told us: ‘You have a choice. You either die here or you go to Poland’”, said Abdul.

HRW also spoke to a man who witnessed his companion drowning after being forced by Belarusian guards to cross the Bug river on the border in a rubber raft: “The boat turned over. None of us could swim…Ahmed was thrown into the middle of the river and I could see him go under. He cried and pleaded for help.”

The report notes that Polish border guards routinely push migrants back across the border to Belarus “without due process”, a practice that many argue violates international law.

Pointing out that Belarus is not a safe country, the report calls on the Polish authorities to “immediately halt all summary returns and collective expulsions to Belarus”. It also wants Warsaw to lift the state of emergency that bans journalists and aid workers from visiting the border area.

HRW appealed to the EU to not only to press Poland on those issues but also to consider a temporary relocation mechanism that would enable migrants arriving in Poland to be transferred to other EU states, where “their needs” can be “fairly assessed”.

HRW notes that “the injured or sick” are taken by Polish border guards for medical treatment and receive a temporary six-month stay on humanitarian grounds. But this can result in families being separated, it adds.

A 40-year-old Kurdish woman from Syria, referred to as Awira, told WRH her 14-year-old daughter collapsed after spending a week in the forest and was taken to a Polish hospital.

“The Polish border guard said that only one person can stay with her,” she said. “The guards put my son and the rest in a military van and drove off. I don’t know where. Since then, I haven’t been able to reach my son.”

HRW blames both countries for the way the crisis is presented. “Polish and Belarusian authorities have cynically instrumentalised the migration issue,” reads the reports, whose authors point out that both countries disseminate recordings and photos in an effort to prove the wrongdoing of the other side.

This week, in response to the army’s detention of three reporters near the border, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), another NGO, accused Poland of “treating journalists as if it were a military dictatorship”.

“Although it is legitimate for the Polish state to address security risks in the border area, the media must be able to cover police and military operations and migration, which is a public interest issue,” noted Pavol Szalai, the head of RSF’s European Union and Balkans desk.

The Polish government argues that it is taking necessary steps to tackle a “hybrid attack” on its borders orchestrated by Belarus with Russian backing. It says it has an obligation to prevent illegal crossings onto its territory.

“Poland grants international protection to people whose life and health are at risk, as exemplified by the assistance provided to Belarusians persecuted by the Lukashenko regime and the evacuation of around 1,300 refugees from Afghanistan,” Poland’s interior minister, Mariusz Kamiński, said last month.

Warsaw has received support for its efforts from a number of allies, including Germany, the European Commission, and NATO. There has also been widespread condemnation of Belarus’s actions, including by the US State Department.

Main image credit: Irek Dorozanski / DWOT (under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Agnieszka Wądołowska

Agnieszka Wądołowska is deputy editor of Notes from Poland. She has previously worked for Gazeta.pl and Tokfm.pl and contributed to Gazeta Wyborcza, Wysokie Obcasy, Duży Format, Midrasz and Kultura Liberalna