UN observers are not allowed to enter the area around the border between Poland and Belarus. Neither country allowed the monitors to see the conditions of migrants in the region themselves.
A statement issued by the United Nations human rights organization said that politicians and administrators had received the monitors and that 31 people who had crossed the border were interviewed. Those conversations revealed that migrants on both sides of the border live in poor conditions. They are often without food, drink, or sanitation.
The West accused Belarus of provoking a migration crisis on the border with Poland in retaliation for European sanctions imposed after President Alexander Lukashenko’s victory in the elections in the summer of 2020, which were described as fraudulent.
Several migrants said they were mistreated and threatened by Belarusian security forces. Then those agencies took them to the border area and indicated where they could cross the border. The immigrants said that the Belarusians prevented people from leaving that region to return to Minsk.
The UN team also heard many stories of people being sent directly from Poland to Belarus. Those not returned will be arrested. The United Nations calls on both countries to stop this and allow humanitarian organizations and journalists to enter the border area.
Read also: How refugees on the Polish border are a plaything in Putin’s ‘Destabilization of the European Union’ operation(+)
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