UN urges Poland to provide access to border with Belarus

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has called on the Polish authorities to ensure access to the border with Belarus to help the refugees who have accumulated there, stated Senior Communications Officer at UNHCR Katerina Kitidi – as reported by RIA Novosti

“We maintain direct contacts with the Internal Ministry, the administration and the border service. Now, when the territory along the border with Belarus is cordoned off, access to it is significantly limited. Therefore, humanitarian organisations, as well as lawyers, media, doctors, and volunteers do not get there. UNHCR continues to urge the Polish authorities to ensure unrestricted access to migrants, asylum seekers and refugees in the emergency zone, as stated in the 1991 agreement signed by the UNHCR and the Polish Foreign Ministry and based on our mandate,” she noted.

Katerina Kitidi stressed that from the very beginning the UNHCR advocated providing access to refugees at the border of Belarus and Poland for all humanitarian organisations.

“Although we cannot enter the emergency zone, we are conducting monitoring visits right outside this zone. In a similar way we regularly visit detention centres and, together with our partners, offer legal advice and support to persons seeking international protection in Poland and Belarus. We have increased financial assistance to NGOs that provide legal assistance to people undergoing the asylum procedure. If we receive distress signals from people at the border, we coordinate with our partners to save lives. For a long time we have defended and continue to defend the rights of asylum seekers, as well as the rights of refugees in Poland and Belarus,” said Ms. Kitidi.