3:01 25 November 2021
Both Poles and Belarusians violate human rights at the border: HRW report
Belarusian services beat migrants and extort tribute on them. Polish Border Guard officers separate families and ignore requests for asylum, according to a report by Human Rights Watch. Its authors stated that the only beneficiaries of the crisis are smugglers and Belarusian services.
At the beginning of October, Human Rights Watch activists went to the border with Belarus in the vicinity of Grodno to see with their own eyes what the situation of migrants is. Their report confirms the course and genesis of the migration crisis at the border. However, it also contains shocking testimonies of witnesses pointing to the brutality and greed of the Belarusian services, as well as the ruthlessness of the Polish Border Guard separating families from each other.
Human Rights Watch emphasizes that the guards have a legal base because in early October the Seym legalized the pushing of refugees to the other side and lifted the requirement to accept asylum applications from them. But - as the organization emphasizes – these provisions are in conflict with the EU Charter of Fundamental Human Rights, to which Poland has committed itself.
