(Hajnówka and Sokółka, Poland) Material donations, volunteering, firefighters and doctors who roam the forests, not to mention green lights which signal that the door is open to migrants. Contrary to the intransigence of the Polish government, many in Poland are mobilizing to save the lives of migrants trapped in the forests bordering Belarus. Although a camp was closed Thursday by the Belarusian government, there are still many people to be rescued.
Beret screwed to her head, Kalina hugs one of her colleagues. The emotion is strong for this thirty-something. It must be said that she has just witnessed the first stage of a refoulement of three Iraqi citizens at the edge of the Polish forest. Direction “square one” for these asylum seekers in Poland, who entered Polish territory via neighboring Belarus.
Intercepted by Polish border guards, these three migrants, who crossed the forest between Belarus and Poland in October, will be escorted back by Polish security forces “to the border demarcation line”. They had, however, declared to Kalina and repeated to the journalists present that day that they wished to apply for asylum in Poland.
“A real humanitarian crisis”
Defying international law which provides for the right of asylum, the Polish border guards however only apply Polish law. Since mid-October, this has officially authorized the deportation of foreigners without a Polish residence permit in the dense forests of Podlasie. “We are facing a real humanitarian crisis”, deplores Kalina.
“We intervened with people who were at the end of their rope, it had been seven times that they had been turned away, several had nevertheless applied for asylum”, launches this Polish woman who has temporarily put her work aside to join the volunteers of Grupa Granica. This collective of several Polish NGOs has been operating since the start of this migration crisis in Poland.
PHOTO HÉLÈNE WELCOME, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Near Budy, Poland, Maciej, an activist from Grupa Granica, tries to physically prevent the refoulement of Iraqi migrants.
Since the summer, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko – fraudulently re-elected in the summer of 2020 – has been issuing tourist visas en masse to foreigners mostly from the Middle East to whom travel agencies promise a quick passage to Western Europe via the Polish-Belarusian border.
Poland has recorded more than 33,000 irregular entries into its territory since the start of 2021. And with temperatures plummeting at this time of year, NGOs fear a toll much higher than the dozen dead. officially recorded in these forests.
I fear there are many more lifeless bodies in the swampy corners. And in the future, one can only fear more deaths: temperatures can reach – 30 here.
Agata Kołodziej, employee of the Ocalenie Foundation, a Polish organization helping migrants
SOS launched by messaging
Agata and her colleagues have already participated in more than 300 interventions in the field. The smart phone is an essential tool in any rescue. Migrants – or their relatives – send SOS to Grupa Granica members by messaging, indicating their location and needs. Loaded with warm clothes, tea, soup, cereal bars, sleeping bags, volunteers are deployed as quickly as possible.
Finally, on condition that the people to be rescued are indeed outside the state of emergency zone located three kilometers from the border. Because NGOs like the press do not have access to this exclusion zone decreed by Poland.
Green light on
While the conservative Polish national government maintains an inflexible stance towards these exiles, which it sees as mere cogs in Alexander Lukashenko’s strategy, part of Polish society is mobilizing to avoid the tragedy in the forests of Podlasie. Some residents even display their doors open to migrants by turning on a green light in their homes.
Kamil Syller, who lives five kilometers from the border, is the originator. “This green light means that by knocking on the door, any migrant will be able to receive a hot meal, recharge their phone… Green is the color of hope. It is also a signal for the neighbors to encourage them to do the same. ”
At Kamil as elsewhere, donations flow from all over Poland. As in the Michałowo fire station, a town of 6000 inhabitants about twenty kilometers from the border. On this November evening, Elżvolunteer firefighter bieta Oczko sorts a mountain of clothes there. “For me, it’s normal to be mobilized: the firefighters are there to help. These people have been deceived, they have nothing left. They are stuck here and cannot return home. It’s absolutely tragic, ”says the mother.
11
Number of migrants who have died on both sides of the border since the summer, say humanitarian organizations
The Polish International Assistance Center (PCPM) said it had helped a Syrian couple in the early hours of Thursday who had been in the border forest for a month and a half. “Their 1 year old child died in the forest,” he said.
Source: Agence France-Presse