A Kurdish woman who miscarried after crossing from Belarus into Poland in freezing conditions has herself died in a Polish hospital – the latest death resulting from the unprecedented migration crisis at the European Union’s eastern frontier.
The 38-year-old and her family, who had fled from Iraq, were among the tens of thousands of people, mostly from the Middle East, who have tried to cross the border in recent months. She is survived by her husband and five children – aged six to 13 – who have applied for asylum in Poland.
They were discovered near the Polish village of Narewka on 12 November after reportedly spending a week living in the forest – first in Belarus then in Poland – reports Gazeta Wyborcza, which names the woman as Avin Irfan Zahir.
She was 24 weeks pregnant and suffering severe hypothermia, with a body temperature of just over 27°C (80.6°F) at the time of her admission to hospital.
Two days later, she suffered a miscarriage while still unconscious. It transpired that she had been carrying a stillborn foetus for some time. Her condition did not improve and she died on Friday evening, Poland’s border guard confirmed today.
A funeral for her unborn child took place last week, at a Muslim cemetery in nearby Bohoniki. It was the fourth funeral there last month of people who had died crossing the border from Belarus, including a 19-year-old Syrian who drowned after reportedly being forced into a river by Belarusian officers.
The head of the district prosecutors office in Hajnówka, the town in which the woman was hospitalised, announced today that police and forensic experts are collecting evidence regarding the circumstances of her death, with prosecutors intending to begin an investigation into manslaughter tomorrow.
The woman’s family are being housed at an open facility in the city of Białystok, where they are under the care of the Dialogue Foundation, an NGO, reports Gazeta Wyborcza. They have applied for asylum in Poland.
Ongoing attempts by thousands of people to cross the EU’s eastern borders – orchestrated by the Belarusian authorities – have created a major humanitarian crisis, especially as colder and wetter weather conditions have set in.
A recent report by Human Rights Watch said that Poland and Belarus have “shared responsibility for abuse” of migrants at the border, and that both countries have “cynically instrumentalised the migration issue”. Poland has been accused of violating international law by pushing people back over the border.
The Polish government, however, says it has a duty to defend its – and the EU’s – border, and claims that it provides humanitarian and medical aid to all who require it. Warsaw has received support for its approach from the European Union, Germany and other allies.
Independent verification of the situation at the border remains almost impossible due to restrictions put in place by the Polish government that ban the media and NGOs from visiting the area freely.
Main image credit: Kamil Syller/Facebook
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.
