The «Doctors Without Borders» have withdrawn from Poland’s border region with Belarus. The Polish authorities had repeatedly banned the aid organization from accessing the exclusion zone directly at the border, it said in a message. It was not possible to get a permit for access to the border area, said Frauke Ossig, responsible for Poland and Lithuania.
SRF News: Why is the organization “Doctors Without Borders” withdrawing from the Polish-Belarusian border?
Frauke Ossig: The number of refugees crossing the border has fallen significantly in the last few months, although people are still crossing the border and staying in areas where we cannot reach them. People stay in the forest for fear of being forcibly pushed back to Belarus, where they previously experienced violence. You have tried many times.
In most cases, people will not report to the authorities for fear of being deported.
They have been pushed back and forth and are now hidden in the forest, without food, often without warm clothing, without access to water or medical care, for fear of alerting the border guards. Help from humanitarian organizations is needed there.
Your organization is no longer allowed to enter this area. What is the justification of the Polish authorities for this?
One reason is that there is no need there. They informed us that they are providing medical and humanitarian aid to everyone who is in the forest. We don’t even question that. What this assessment ignores, however, is the fact that most of the time people do not report to the authorities – for fear of being expelled without being able to apply for asylum or international protection at all. This completely violates European laws, but is tolerated.
Legend:
For months, people have been trying to get to Poland via Belarus across the EU’s external border. Your situation is difficult: the temperatures are below zero. Organizations such as “Doctors Without Borders” are no longer given access.
Keystone
Does it happen more often that an EU country hinders your work?
We keep experiencing blockages, I can’t talk about all European countries, but we have had the most extreme blockages in Italy; the criminalization of the help we give in the Mediterranean to keep people from drowning. For us, however, it remains an unacceptable double standard when EU politicians in emergency situations in other countries of the world demand access to humanitarian aid, but remain silent when there are refugees on their own doorstep.
They cannot be reached by humanitarian organizations, but only by residents of the zone.
What are the consequences of the withdrawal for the refugees?
This leaves them in a situation where, in most cases, they are hypothermic, dehydrated and extremely exhausted. They cannot be reached by humanitarian organizations, only by residents of the zone who are doing an insane job of providing aid. You definitely need the support of impartial, non-governmental, humanitarian groups. However, these people cannot reach them.
You work with other organizations. If they are no longer there, what are the consequences for them?
Due to the decrease in the number of people who actually manage to cross the border and reach Poland, help outside the security zone should be provided by civil organizations, which is also one of the reasons why we are no longer involved there. Within the zone, however, it is only left to residents. It is not their job to spend their free time helping people. Apart from the fact that they are not medically trained for it.
The interview was conducted by Raphael Günther.