The border of Poland and Belarus crisis

There is a current issue involving migrants between the borders of Poland and Belarus where migrants from war-torn countries such as Afghanistan, Yemen and Iraq who are currently in Belarus as a passthrough are being encouraged and pushed by Belarussian officers across the borders to Poland as they do not have resources to sustain these people. Poland is denying these migrants the entrance into the EU.

Due to the unstable situation, they are being forced to camp out in the plummeting temperatures in a forest between borders. They have not been supplied with any resources of tents and must stay in the freezing forests. Some Polish volunteers and activists have gone to these forests handing out soup and blankets to all those families in need without flashlights in the hopes of not catching the attention of the Polish officers. So far, the polish government have announced 9 deaths however this number seems to be lower than reality. Belarus has as a result threatened to cut-off gas supply to Europe if Poland does not soon start to open their borders for the desperate migrants. The migrants have tried many ways of entering the country even catching planes from Moscow to Minsk however the Polish government has banned them from boarding these planes.

This is a complete violation of human rights on the part of Poland as they have signed the European Convention of Human Rights which would imply an obligation to provide food and shelter to those in need. By denying the entrance of these migrants into Poland they violate this obligation and the migrants experience: hunger, poverty, violence, and death. Through this they are also breaking the “Collective expulsion” principle that is an obligation to those part of the EU. Therefore, Poland is legally violating many principles they must follow and are not seeing any consequence, Belarus has received backup from Ukraine and Russia. The media also had a huge role in informing about this violation of human rights worldwide and getting petitions started to fight for Poland to open its borders.

Bibliography

"In The Standoff Between Belarus And Europe, Migrants Are Being Used As Human Weapons". Time, 2021, https://time.com/6119488/belarus-poland-border-dispute-humanitarian/. Accessed 30 Nov 2021.