Many of the 2,000 migrants detained in Poland last year after crossing the border into Belarus have been mistreated. Amnesty International concluded that on Monday in a report based on 75 interviews with refugees who came to Belarus last summer and were then pushed across the border into Poland. The human rights organization writes that the migrants were “searched in unsanitary, overcrowded detention centers” and in some cases were forcibly sedated or attacked with electroshock weapons.
Last summer, the European Union imposed sanctions against Belarus in response to the hijacking of a plane carrying activist Roman Pratasevich. President Aleksandr Lukashenko then brought Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis to his country, promising that they could reach the European Union from there. In reality, they were pushed across the borders with Poland or Lithuania. According to Amnesty, Polish authorities “systematically” detain migrants crossing the border into Belarus and push them back “by force”. Such pushbacksThe expulsion of migrants from Europe’s external borders before they can apply for asylum is prohibited under international law.
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Electric shock weapons and forced stunning
Refugees who were not returned have been held in detention centers in Poland, according to the report, where they have little access to sanitation and mental and physical help. In the Polish detention center Wędrzyn, twenty-four men are sitting in a room of eight square meters, Amnesty writes. To be searched, new migrants had to take off all their clothes and remain in a squatting position for “longer than necessary”.
In another detention center, migrants were put in an isolation cell for asking for a towel or more food. Some migrants who told Amnesty about their experiences in Poland say they were attacked with electroshock weapons or had been sedated by injection when they opposed their deportation.
Last summer, the migration crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border reached a peak when thousands of migrants reported to the Polish border. Belarus allowed some international media to report in the border area, but journalists were not allowed to come to the Polish border. Fewer migrants seemed to make the crossing from Belarus to Poland this winter – only small groups of people were stopped on the Polish side. Local authorities still do not allow aid workers and journalists to report on events within a few kilometers of the European border.
Also read: How pushing back migrants across Europe’s external border became practice