Posts tagged non-refoulement
The Migration Crisis on the Poland-Belarus Border: How Prejudice and Nationalism Lead to Grave Violations of International and Human Rights Law
The Migration Crisis on the Poland-Belarus Border: How Prejudice and Nationalism Lead to Grave Violations of International and Human Rights Law

For over a year, tensions at the Poland-Belarus border have been rising at an unprecedented rate. The resulting humanitarian crisis has inspired discussion about the legal status of refugees, shedding light on Poland’s shameful reaction to the eviction of Middle Eastern refugees by Belarus president Aleksandr Lukashenko in June of 2021. Polish authorities regularly subjected thousands of fugitives camping in the village of Usnarz Gorny without food, sanitation, and heating to water cannons or tear gas, and then, ultimately, pushed them back into Belarus. [1] Such state of affairs is dictated both by the ruling party’s - PIS- historically nationalist and Catholic agenda and by public sentiment. This anti-refugee policy is not only ethically questionable, but also legally untenable. Under several international acts, notably the European Charter of Human Rights (ECHR) and the Geneva Convention, Poland has the obligation to provide Middle Eastern refugees with temporary asylum and respect their right to apply for foreign protection. 

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Ewa Siemiatkowskamigration, Poland, Belarus, international human rights law, European Charter of Human Rights, M.K. and Others v. Poland, Hirsi Jamaa and Others v. Italy, migration crisis, push backs, immigration law, non-refoulement, Poland-Belarus border