AYS Daily Digest 7/9/21: Polish activists organize against pushbacks
By: Are You Syrious
Tags: Poland, Digest, Europe, Borders, Refugees

AYS Daily Digest 7/9/21: Polish activists organize against pushbacks

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Apprehension near the forest at the Polish site of the border. Photo:Mikołaj Kiembłowski

FEATURE

Dozens illegally expelled from Poland every day, the state ignoring orders of the European Court for Human Rights

Refugees are once again used as human ammo in a political standoff between two countries at the external borders of the European Union. In a situation that resembles the border between Greece and Turkey, hundreds of refugees are being pushed back and forth between Belarus and Poland in the past weeks. According to local activists and lawyers, dozens of potential asylum seekers are entering Poland over the green borders every day, only to be apprehended and pushed back by Polish authorities. There is a large population of Afghans among the victims, including many families with children and elderly people. Despite their condition and potential asylum claim, Polish authorities are forcing them to walk through inaccessible and potentially dangerous dense forest areas, back to Belarus from where they are often tossed back to the Polish side of the border.

Sick and elderly are not spared from the ill-treatment. Photo: Mikołaj Kiembłowski

This situation is different from systematic denials of access to asylum at Polish borders, which so far affected refugees coming to the Belarus-Poland border by trains. That trend peaked in 2016, when numerous people from Chechnya, but also from Tajikistan and Georgia, have been trying to apply for asylum. When they would arrive at the border station by train from the Belarus city of Brest, Polish border guards would ignore their asylum claims and would return them to Belarus the same day.

32 Afghans pinned between borders for a month

This time, refugees from the Middle East and other troubled areas are crossing the border irregularly, and allegedly with the assistance of the Belarussian regime. The situation is especially dire for 32 Afghans trapped in a no man’s land between Belarus and Poland for almost a month. While Belarus is not accepting them back, Polish authorities are preventing them from entering Poland to exercise their right to seek asylum and denying them access to food and medicine. The European Court for Human Rights issued an interim measure, ordering Poland to grant them access to basic provisions (but not to the territory!), but authorities are so far ignoring the court order.

32 Afghans have been pinned for nearly a month between two borders. Photo: Maciej Moskwa

For several days we have been observing a political game, the effect of which is felt directly by 32 people imprisoned in the border zone between Poland and Belarus in the town of Usnarz Górny. At the same time, every day, dozens of other people cross the border looking for shelter and asylum. It’s happening away from the media attention — along the green border. Refugees are subjected to brutal and illegal push-backs, thrown to the Belarusian side and deprived of their dignity. Only a few, after interventions on lawyers, incl. The Association for Legal Intervention, CHLEBEM I SOLĄ and the Ocalenie Foundation have managed to enter the procedures for applying for international protection, activists from Rozbrat collective explained.

State of emergency preventing access to victims

In the first weeks of the crisis, teams of lawyers, activists, and documentarists were approaching the newcomers with prepared powers of attorney, in order to secure legal representation in Poland before they are apprehended by the police. Even then, the lawyers often had trouble finding their clients in police stations, only to learn they were pushed back.

Access to victims is even harder since Poland imposed a state of emergency, cutting off a large strip of the border area. Journalists and activists are not allowed to enter a 30-km wide border zone, and the locals have very little information about what’s happening. The activists have organized an outreach program, explaining the basics of fundamental rights, including access to international protection, to those who live in the area and might find themselves in a position to help the refugees.

New legislation violates international and EU law

Activists are currently coordinating and regrouping to ensure direct support, information sharing, and legal follow-up of the cases. A big point of concern is the Polish attempt to legalize pushbacks: legislation leading to this was passed two weeks ago, and the new proposal is being tabled in the parliament, to prevent access to the asylum system for those who have crossed the borders illegally. This is a direct violation of the EU law and the lawyers are exploring the way to challenge the new legislation at the EU level.

Groups that are engaged in the border area include Fundacja Ocalenie, Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, Poznańska Garażówka, Rozbrat Collecive, No Borders Katowice, No Borders Poznań, Balkan Solidarity Network, Nomada Stowarzyszenie, Stowarzyszenie Interwencji Prawnej, Homo Faber, Polskie Forum Migracyjne, Salam Lab, Dom Otwarty, Centrum Pomocy Prawnej im. Haliny Nieć, CHLEBEM I SOLĄ and uchodźcy.info, as well as numerious individual activists who are supporting the goal. Are You Syrious is in contact with activists on the field and is putting our expertise and resources at their disposal. Striking similarities between what’s happening in Poland today and what’s been unfolding at the Balkan route since 2016 only prove pushbacks are an EU-wide trend, and responsibility needs to be sought not only in national authorities, but also in Brussels, Geneva and Warsaw.