Białowieża. Michałowo. The Border Guard refused four migrants to accept protection applications

For several days, a regulation has been in force on the temporary limitation of the right to submit an application for international protection in Poland. The border guard refused asylum to four migrants who illegally crossed the Polish-Belarusian border in the vicinity of Białowieża and Michałów (Podlasie). According to activists, one of them said that he was 17 years old and was hospitalized after falling from the border wall. The Border Guard claims that it was a 22-year-old, and he was discharged from the hospital in good condition.

From last Thursday (March 27) at the state border with Belarus applies Regulation on the temporary limitation of the right to submit an application for international protection. It will apply for 60 days.

Border Despite the restrictions, he will take such conclusions from minors without care, pregnant women and from people who may require special treatment, especially because of their age or health.

Two Ethiopia citizens, an Eritrea citizen and a Somali

A spokeswoman for the Podlasie branch of the SG Major Katarzyna Zdanowicz announced that from the beginning of the SG regulation, she refused to accept applications for international protection with four foreigners who illegally crossed the Polish-Belarusian border. It is about three migrants detained in the vicinity of Białowieża: they are two citizens of Ethiopia and a citizen Eritreaas well as a Somali detained in the vicinity of Michałów.

Zdanowicz reported that these migrants were not “in the catalog of persons listed in the Act (…) against which the restriction introduced by the regulation is not applied.”

– In accordance with applicable regulations, foreigners who do not submit or from which applications for international protection are not accepted, receive a decision to leave the territory of our country. Activities related to issuing a decision are carried out in a border guard facility – added a spokeswoman.

GROUP GROUP: The boy said he is 17 years old

The case of one of these migrants, the Somali, was described by activists from the Border group who deal with humanitarian aid at the Polish-Belarusian border. They informed in social media that, according to what the boy was saying, he was 17 years old, he was hospitalized after falling from the border wall. He was in poor physical and mental condition, and in Belarus experienced violence.

“The new act on the suspension of asylum right is inhumane and anti -human – but the practice is even worse,” the activists wrote about the case of this migrant. In their opinion, the boy had the right to accept his application for international protection, because he was probably a minor and unattended, and also required special treatment due to his health.

Granna Guard: He is 22 years old

Zdanowicz announced that the SG had verified the boy's age. According to the photocopy of the document he had, he was born in 2003, i.e. he is 22 years old. She reported that the boy after midnight on March 27 called by the SG was an ambulance at the SOR of the Poviat Hospital in Hajnówka. He was written from it in good condition.

Since the beginning of the year, the Podlasie branch of the SG has recorded about 3,000 attempts to illegally cross the border from Belarus to Poland, of which from the beginning of March – over 2.4 thousand. attempts. Last weekend there were about 560 attempts to cross the Polish-Belarusian border illegally: on Friday-over 270 attempts, on Saturday-over 170, and on Sunday-nearly 120.

There is a buffer zone

Since mid -June 2024, the so -called The buffer zone, which was introduced on the basis of the regulation Of the Ministry of Interior and Administration. For the third time (from March 10 this year) it was extended for another 90 days, as well as extended and currently covers the length of the border over a section of 78.29 km in the Hajnów poviat and part of the Białystok poviat. It is about the area of ​​operation of the SG branches in Michałów, Narewka, Białowieża, and Dubiczs of Cerkiewne and Czereze.

See also: The new regulations give power to border guards. How will they use them?

At nearly 60 km of border, you must not stay in a belt 200 meters wide from the border line, over a section of over 15 kilometers located in the area of ​​nature reserves, the PAS is about 2 km wide, and on a section of nearly 3.8 km the width of the zone is about 4 km.

According to the Ministry, the buffer zone works

The Ministry of Interior and Administration in the extending regulation assessed that the “buffer zone works”, the number of attempts at illegally crossing the border by approx. 46 percent. compared to the same period from the introduction of the zone. According to the ministry, the buffer affects the safety of services on the border, and also limits the activity of smuggling groups.

Safe Podlasie surgery is also conducted in Podlasie. As part of it, the army and police support the border guard on the border.

Operation “Lock” – a crisis caused by Lukashenko

Migration crisis at the borders of Belarus with Poland, Lithuania and Latvia He was caused by Alaksander Lukashenko, who is accused of waging a hybrid war. It involves the organized transfer of migrants on the territory of Poland, Lithuania and Latvia. In more than 28 years of his rule, Lukashenko has often threatened Europe with a weakening of borders.

Read also: Operation “Lock” – where did planes fly to Minsk? This is what results from the analysis of thousands of cruises

The action of downloading migrants to Belarus from the Middle East or Africa, in order to cause a migration crisis, was described on his blog by a journalist of the Belarusian opposition channel Next Tadeusz Giczan. He explained that the Belarusian services in this way conducted the “lock” surgery 10 years ago. Under the guise of trips to Minsk, promising to move to Western Europe, Lukashenko's regime brought thousands of migrants to Belarus. Then he transports them to the borders of the EU countries, where Belarusian services force them to cross them illegally. This operation is still going on.

Aid organizations about the situation on the border

Organizations providing humanitarian aid on the Polish-Belarusian border say that despite changing the government in Poland against migrants, the law is still broken. They argue that they have documented cases of throwing people abroad with Belarus who clearly asked for international protection and the presence of volunteers. During one of the press conferences, a drastic film was presented by the Volunteer Humanitarian Emergency Service, which shows the dragging of the woman's inert body through the gate in the border fence and abandoning her on the other side.

Assistance organizations demand that the government restore the rule of law on the Polish-Belarusian border, conducting a policy of protecting borders with respect for international and domestic law guaranteeing access to the procedure for applying for international protection and compliance with the non-refourent principle, initiating the administrative proceedings provided for by the right to persons crossing the border, immediately stopping the border at the border to be responsible guilty of violence.

“We know about people in severe health thrown out of military ambulances, as well as explored straight from the hospitals. Men, women with children and minor, without care, are accompanied by the wires and the border. Receiving backpacks with provisions and clean water.

Read more on tvn24.pl: Crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border