Highlight 31/2021 – The Poland-Belarus Border Turmoil: A Morbid Negotiation for Lives and Livelihoods
Sruthee Sankara Ram, 29 November 2021
The Poland-Belarus border has been a site of great commotion and tension in the last few weeks. Thousands of asylum seekers from the Middle East are looking to enter the European Union region via the Polish borders and have been facing fierce pushback from Poland. As events unfold, it is becoming clearer that this crisis is nothing more than a political game, wherein thousands of innocent refugees are mere pawns in the hands of those in power.
In the aftermath of a rigged election, the EU imposed severe economic sanctions against Belarus citing serious human rights violations and repression of civil society outfits. Aleksander Lukashenko, the Belarusian President, has believably orchestrated this massive humanitarian tragedy in an inane attempt to retaliate against said sanctions. However, the actual conditions in which the refugees are stuck at the Poland-Belarus border call for a closer look into the governance policy of the EU with its neighbouring countries. With each passing day, there are increasing reports of deaths and serious injuries from the refugee campsite. Deplorable living conditions, in addition to freezing temperatures, are taking precious lives and yet no one has owned up to this man-made disaster.
The crisis is feared to herald a full out global conflict, with Russia backing Minsk’s activities despite the EU’s firm stance. Lithuania, Latvia and, in particular, Poland are facing the brunt of this mass influx of refugees, transported all the way from Iraq, Syria, Libya and Afghanistan by the Belarusian forces. While Moscow denies any active role in fomenting this turmoil, it has consistently backed Lukashenko’s attempts to disrupt peace at the borders. The far right-wing government of Poland is looking to use this opportunity to reassert its stringent border control measures. With refugees making their way into the German borders already, the EU has but no choice to back Poland at least to temporarily halt the crisis.
In this shadow East-West feud, it is the innocent refugees that are paying the price of international misgovernance. Thousands of families were cooped up at the frontier area as they endured the excruciating conditions in the hope of a better future. It was only on November 17th that the EU announced a relief package worth 700,000 €. EU policies state that Member States can take up refugees on a voluntary basis, but no legal obligations can be imposed upon them. The enforcement of the Convention on Status of Refugees becomes a matter of choice for the countries. Predictably, this leads to the unfolding of a humanitarian crisis like in the case of Poland-Belarus border turmoil.
It is disturbing to learn that there is an increasing trend of weaponizing refugee crises to advance national agenda. International organisations and multilateral institutions must address the root cause of this issue. There is a need to reshape the course of human rights and migration. Migration policies, particularly refugee policies, must be in conformity with human rights – one cannot be exclusive of another. At a time when global governance should be efficiently tackling bigger challenges such as the climate emergency, it is unfortunate to have to reiterate that refugees are entitled to human rights as much as anyone else. This turmoil is a classic example of how shortsighted policies affect innocent people who are torn between battling legal instruments and enduring insufferable living conditions. Time and again, refugees are forced to negotiate for their lives and livelihoods. As repatriation measures begin and the situation defuses at the border, global governance actors must have an answer to the children perched on one side of the barbed wire. The root cause of this tragedy must be addressed and a comprehensive migration regime with a focus on refugees must be developed to avert future humanitarian tragedies.
Sruthee Sankara Ram, The Poland-Belarus Border Turmoil: A Morbid Negotiation for Lives and Livelihoods, Highlight 31/2021, available at www.meig.ch
The views expressed in the MEIG Highlights are personal to the author and neither reflect the positions of the MEIG Programme nor those of the University of Geneva.