The UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, Felipe González Morales, shared initial conclusions following his visit to Poland and Belarus. He noted that Poland employs pushbacks at the border and relocates women and children to open centers.
President Andrzej Duda asserted that migrants have appeared at the border with Belarus and that refugees are arriving from Ukraine.
Did Lukashenka have a hand in recent events? The question arose after a video appeared showing an apparently solitary Yemeni individual at the border, which the Secretary-General reportedly referenced.
Belarus pressed the UN to dismantle the border barrier, while questions linger about whether the barrier disrupts nearby ecosystems such as the Białowieża Forest.
Call to ban pushbacks
González Morales met with Polish officials, activists, and migrants during his stay. He was not afforded access to migrants in Belarus. The UN representative stated that migrants remain trapped in the border region between Poland and Belarus and face violence and pushbacks from both sides. Belarus has not presented convincing evidence to deny responsibility for the border situation, while Poland continues to contend with large numbers of arrivals from Africa and the Middle East, some with Russian visas. Morales urged Poland to withdraw regulations that penalize pushbacks.
Morales connected the border situation to broader geopolitical tensions in the region.
But migrants should not be exploited or sacrificed, indicated the UN representative. He explained that on the Polish side children and pregnant women are effectively detained in closed centers for migrants.
González Morales called on Polish authorities to use detention in centers only as a last resort. He added that where temporary detention centers comply with international law, that protection does not extend to children, pregnant women, or other vulnerable individuals.
The UN official urged authorities to immediately release unaccompanied children, children with their families, pregnant women, and people with mental disorders, and to transfer them to open facilities.
The situation at the border
Border guards reported that 27 foreigners attempted to enter Poland from Belarus in the past day. A group crossed via backwaters of the Leśna Prawa River. The guards noted on social media that detainees included nationals from Congo, Somalia, Cameroon, and Guinea, among others.
Thirteen individuals crossed illegally through the Leśna Prawa River floodplain, in the section monitored by the Border Guard post in Białowieża.
Border Guard statistics show 789 attempts to cross the Polish-Belarusian border since the start of July.
A dam on the Polish-Belarusian border
The construction of a steel barrier along the border is nearing completion. The project was initially slated to finish by the end of June, with workers extending the deadline to the end of July. A spokesman said that the electronic security system, including cameras and detectors, should be ready by autumn.
At the end of June, emergency residence restrictions in 183 towns near the border in the Podlaskie and Lubelskie Voivodeships were set to expire. The measures, introduced amid the migration crisis and linked to the dam project, began on March 2 and extended a prior restriction that existed from December 1, 2021 to March 1, 2022.
From July 1 to September 15, Podlaskie will see a 200-meter border approach ban along the Polish-Belarusian boundary, issued by the voivode. The ban covers the entire Podlaskie Voivodeship except for border river sections.