Poland faces renewed migration pressure at border with Belarus

The Polish-Belarusian border has come under increasing pressure in recent weeks, and the situation is becoming more serious, Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz (PSL, EPP) said on Thursday.

Since mid-2021, Poland has seen an annual increase in the number of people from Africa and the Middle East attempting to cross the border with Belarus to seek asylum, with numbers peaking this year.

“The situation is serious. The pressure on the border has increased in recent weeks. After July and August, which were relatively calm months, September increased the number of illegal border crossings,” said Kosiniak-Kamysz during a visit to the eastern Podlasie region on Thursday.

He added that more than 2,500 irregular border crossings have been recorded so far in September and more than 26,000 in the last nine months, as many as in the whole of 2023. He also pointed to people smugglers who show migrants the locations of border crossings and carriers who are detained.

“We will fight [human snuggling] ruthlessly. It is a violation of the law and a threat to the security of Poland,” Kosiniak-Kamysz announced.

Warsaw believes Belarus, possibly in collusion with Moscow, is orchestrating the border crossings by pushing asylum seekers towards the border.

Poland’s current government, led by Donald Tusk (PO, EPP), which came to power after last year's parliamentary elections, has long accused the previous conservative PiS (ECR) cabinet of inhumane treatment of asylum seekers, including illegal pushbacks.

Human rights organisations providing migrants with food, water, clothes, and medical supplies have complained of restricted access to the border and frequent detentions by police and border guards.

However, since coming to power, Tusk’s government has toughened its stance on immigration.

In July, Tusk announced the creation of a special border zone to combat human smuggling better and facilitate the work of border guards and other services.

“The state’s duty is to protect and defend the border using all safe methods. The border cannot be crossed with impunity,” Tusk said.

“It is Russia and Belarus behind this procedure, and (...) the whole world calls it a hybrid war. We will not back down,” the prime minister added.

(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | Euractiv.pl)