Poland suspends asylum for Belarus migrants News
Ministry of National Defence of Lithuania, GFDL, via Wikimedia Commons
Poland suspends asylum for Belarus migrants

Poland’s Council of Ministers adopted a regulation on Thursday suspending the right to asylum applications for migrants arriving from Belarus.

The regulation will implement a 60-day restriction on the right to asylum on the border with Belarus. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced that the regulation will come into force immediately.

This regulation comes into force amidst international critique of Poland’s developing migration legislation. The UN has been calling for an address towards humanitarian crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border since 2021.

A Polish government news outlet explained that the “adopted solution” counters exploitative migration, which is allegedly part of an organized operation lead by Belarus to disrupt public order in Poland. The news outlet claims that Belarus, in cooperation with Russia and international criminal groups, organizes transfers of migrants to Poland, instructing the migrants on “how to abuse the procedure for entering Poland and the EU.” The news outlet claims that there have been 1.4 thousand cases of illegal crossing attempts over the Belarusian border in March.

Last month Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged Poland to scrap the bill, pointing out its discrepancy with Poland’s international obligations. The Polish Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees expressed concerns about inconsistency of the bill with international law.

HRW previously criticized Poland’s inhumane treatment of migrants attempting to cross from Belarus, with reports stating that the border guards violently pushing the migrants back. HRW claimed that Polish border officials denied migrants access to asylum procedures, caused physical abuse, and confiscated migrants’ belongings.

In October more than 40 human rights groups published an open letter condemning Tusk’s announcement of plans to suspend the right to asylum, citing international law.

Last July Poland approved a bill permitting border guards to use firearms against migrants illegally crossing Belarusian border, which caused a wave of international critique.

The European Court of Human Rights held a hearing in February in a case against Poland concerning pushbacks on Belarusian boarder. The ruling will be released at a later date.

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