GENEVA, December 28. /TASS/. UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, demands the Polish authorities grant unimpeded access to migrants at the border with Belarus, UNHCR spokesperson Babar Baloch told TASS on Tuesday.
When asked by TASS whether UNHCR representatives had a possibility to meet refugees and migrants at the Polish side of the border and verify information of deaths of refugees and migrants, which was shared by a fugitive Polish soldier, Baloch said, "We are aware of the media reports about a Polish soldier crossing the border to Belarus and about the allegations he has made. However, it is up to the concerned national authorities to investigate the reported incidents."
The UNHCR spokesperson recalled that the UN Refugee Agency "has been advocating for unhindered access to the people in the area from the very beginning" and has been "in direct contact" with the Polish interior ministry and the border services. Now that access to the border with Belarus is significantly restricted "humanitarian organizations but also lawyers, media, medics, volunteers are not there," he said, adding that UNHCR "continues to call on the Polish authorities to ensure unrestricted access to migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees in the emergency zone - as specified in the 1991 agreement signed by UNHCR and Poland’s MFA and based on our mandate."
"We have expressed our position in several press releases and advocacy for access to the area under restrictions for all humanitarian organizations is constant," he stressed.
"While we cannot enter the state of emergency area, we conduct monitoring visits right outside this zone," he said. "Similarly, we regularly visit detention centers and, together with our partners, offer legal counseling and support to individuals seeking international protection in Poland and Belarus. We increased our financial assistance to NGOs that provide legal help to people in asylum procedures. If we receive distress calls from people at the border, we coordinate with our counterparts to save lives. We have for long advocated for the rights of asylum seekers and refugees in Poland and Belarus, and continue to do so."
A Polish soldier who fled to Belarus on December 16 said in an interview with the Belarus-1 television channel that he knew about cases when Polish law enforcers had killed migrants and Polish volunteers who helped them in the border zone.
On December 28, SB.Belarus Segodnya reported that 140 migrants were recognized as victims in a criminal case on charges of violence used by Polish law enforcers at the border in a period from November 8 through 16.
The migration crisis at Belarus’ border with Poland, Lithuania and Latvia deteriorated dramatically on November 8, when several thousand migrants approached the Polish border and set up camp there. From time to time they try to break through the fences and cross into Poland, but are stopped by Polish law enforcers.
Poland blames the current migration crisis on Belarus, claiming that the Belarusian authorities deliberately invite thousands of migrants to send them to the border areas in a bid to destabilize the situation. Meanwhile, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that the blame for this situation rests on Western countries because people are fleeing their countries gripped by hostilities provoked by their actions.