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As Poland scares away migrants, locals offer humanitarian aid Migration News

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Mirosław Miniszewski, 48, first encountered a group of foreigners wandering in a nearby forest in August, a rare photograph in a desolate area near the Belarusian border where he lives.

Hungry, thirsty and, even at the end of the Polish summer, cold.

In the days and weeks that followed, the number of people entering Poland from the porous Belarusian border reached thousands.

Miniszewski has devoted much of his free time to saving the lives of refugees trapped within borders.

In early September, Poland imposed a state of emergency in the area bordering Belarus. Three kilometers from Belarus, the area covers 115 villages and towns in the Podlachia region and 68 in Lubelskie.

Journalists and NGOs cannot enter the area under the rule, as it has basically banned the making of allegations and aid.

Thousands of police and border guards were sent to the border to prevent undocumented migrants and refugees from entering Poland.

People like Miniszewski and other locals are doing everything they can to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe.

“Here we are on the front line and we have taken on the burden of providing humanitarian aid. We represent NGOs and medical staff because no one can enter the area, ”Miniszewski said.

“I don’t ask questions. If I see someone hungry, I give them food, if I see someone thirsty, I give them water, if I see that they are cold, I give them sleeping bags. It’s very simple. ‘

“Action organized by the Belarusian authorities”

The month-long migrant crisis on the border has intensified this week, with hundreds more people approaching the border trying to enter Poland from Belarus.

Poland and its allies say Belarus is trying to seek revenge on Western President Alexander Lukashenko’s administration for Western sanctions by encouraging people to approach and break the border.

Earlier this year, Belarus eased visa procedures for citizens of several countries, including Iraq and Lebanon. Belavia, the state airline, opened connections to some new destinations.

Travel agencies offering trips to Belarus proliferated in the Middle East and Africa, promising cheap and fast ways to get to Europe. Facebook ads attracted people looking for a better life to spend their savings on the trip, and promised to reach the EU within three days.

“We are facing an action organized by the Belarusian authorities, there is no doubt about that. Belarus does not border on Syria, Iraq or African countries, nor is it a tourist destination. According to several videos available, we know that migrants are being pushed to the border by the Belarusian armed security services, ”said Witold Jurasz, a security analyst and former Polish business manager in Belarus, Al Jazeera.

The expert noted that the ultimate goal of the strategy depends on whether it was prepared in Belarus or Russia, Minsk’s main ally.

If he is in Minsk, the goal may be for the West to enter the negotiating table with Lukashenko without any preconditions, as it has so far been the release of political prisoners after last year’s crackdown on peaceful protests in the country.

Second, Jurassic believes that by bringing Russia into the conflict, Lukashenko wants to prolong his political life. Without the support of the West, it is based on Russia.

“If Russia is behind it, to test NATO’s unity and organizational capability or to bring such a climb to the border as an excuse to place the Russian army in Belarus. It has always been Russia’s goal but Lukashenko has long since confronted him. Now there is no political independence, ”Jurasz said.

The humanitarian crisis is growing

Despite the geopolitical situation, the Polish government has been reluctant to provide humanitarian aid to people arriving from Belarus.

“In the last three months in 97% of cases where people wanted asylum, we called the border guard. They would fill out the paperwork and then send people back to Belarus, ”said Minority Rights group Anna Alboth.

“If a person or family like that has been away five or eight times already, they know it doesn’t matter what they tell the guards. If they have children or have children with disabilities, they will still be rejected. ”

A 16-year-old Kurdish family, including nine children, remains stationary along with thousands of others in Poland [Karol Grygoruk/RATS Agency]

According to activists, it is not clear how many people are within the borders at the moment, where on the one hand the Polish guards are returning to Belarus, and on the other hand the Belarusian guards are ensuring that they do not re-enter the country.

Last week alone, Grupa Granica, a coalition of 14 NGOs formed to deal with the humanitarian border crisis, was in contact with 1,500 people.

They are provided with hot food, water, thermal clothing and sleeping bags, but can only work outside the emergency area.

“It’s getting cold and some people stay in the woods for weeks because of the pushes. Hypothermia, lack of access to clean water, food poisoning are huge problems. People can die because they drink dirty water, are dehydrated and have nothing to eat, ”says Małgorzata Lojkowska, a lawyer and human rights activist.

“There are a lot of pregnant women, a lot of kids. Some people are injured because they were crossed by a wire. At the same time, I think we can reach a small part of the people who need help. ”

So far at least 10 people have been killed, mostly in Poland, but activists and locals believe the forests between Belarus and Poland will soon reveal dozens of bodies.

The Polish government has no plans to organize humanitarian corridors, as force is the only way to fight the Belarusian strategy.

A Kurdish refugee child is seeking asylum in Poland [Karol Grygoruk/RATS Agency]

In the area of ​​emergency, the humanitarian disaster is being addressed only by the locals, as is Miniszewski.

“I don’t want to judge border guards, they have their work to do, and I have my moral imperatives,” he said.

“People became hostages of the situation, they were put into this trap. I don’t care if they knew where they were going. Can you imagine how it feels to spend several days in a forest without eating, without water and no place to sleep?



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