Illegally pushed back at the border

The human rights organisation Amnesty International has said Poland carried out an unlawful pushback of a group of migrants camped out on its border with Belarus

Poland in late August illegally turned back Afghan refugees who were stranded on the border with Belarus, the rights organisation said, citing an analysis of satellite imagery and other photos and videos.
A group of 32 refugees, including a 15-year-old girl, are stuck in precarious conditions on the Belarusian side of the border, with no access to food, clean water, shelter or medicine, Amnesty said.
The Director of Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office, Eve Geddie, said the organisation has evidence ‘strongly suggesting’ that the Afghan refugees ‘were victims of an unlawful forced return’.
Poland has sealed off the 418km border and declared a state of emergency, officially banning journalists and aid organisations from entering.
“Forcing people back who are trying to claim asylum without an individual assessment of their protection needs is against European and international law,” Geddie said.
The human rights group called on Poland to provide the migrants with shelter, food and water, as well as access to lawyers and medical care.
A few days ago, the UN made a statement about possible human rights violations related to the detention of migrants in Lithuania, Latvia and Poland. Moreover, IOM and UNHCR call for immediate access to those affected, in order to provide lifesaving medical help, food, water and shelter, especially in light of the approaching winter. 


Minister of Justice of Hungary, Judit Varga, accused the EU of double standards against the background of the migration crisis. She posted the corresponding message on her Facebook account.
Judit Varga compared the current situation with migrants in Lithuania to that in Hungary in 2015. “Do we remember what happened in 2015, when we were the first and almost the only one in Europe to defend our borders? At that time, western left-liberal politicians and the Brussels bubble protested against the Hungarian rules, and this topic has not been removed since then off the agenda,” she wrote.
Judit Varga continued, “The European Court has found that Hungarian migration management measures violate European law. At the same time, the European Commission did not react to similar measures taken by Lithuania. Surprisingly, the supporters of the rule of law are now silent,” she said, adding, “There is nowhere an official letter from the Commission or a bad word against Lithuania’s measures.”
“This example proves once again that European institutions continue to apply double standards at an unprecedented level,” concluded Judit Varga.

Based on material of www.dw.com
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