United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees since 2016, Italian diplomat Filippo Grandi analyzes the crisis between Belarus and Poland. And deplores the attitude of many Europeans, who prefer to erect border walls and turn back asylum seekers.
UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration are among the few to have gained access to the border area between Belarus and Poland. What did they find there?
We financed and organized distributions of cold protection equipment, medicines and food to some 2,000 people on Thursday 11 November, thanks to our partner, the Belarusian Red Cross. It was the most urgent. We told the Belarusian authorities that our aim was also to examine possible solutions for those people to whom we have made untenable promises and who cannot stay there any longer. Many are clinging to a hope, others would, it seems, like to return home, and our organizations are ready to help them. Either to go back or to seek asylum in Belarus because, even if it surprises you, this country has a system that works rather well. Finally, we must examine the case of the few people who could benefit from the rules of family reunification in Europe.
The instrumentalisation of migration by the Minsk regime seems obvious. But how do you judge the attitude of Poland, and of the European Union in general?
Expressing concerns and criticism with regard to the unacceptable manipulation and endangerment of vulnerable people is legitimate, justified. Beyond that, I deplore what followed: the fate of these few thousand people seemed manageable, without panic and without the idea that only the construction of walls and repression would be the solutions. No doubt this can help some politicians to win elections, but it does not solve anything and also demonstrates the vulnerability of Europe. Which will only encourage those who want to exploit this weakness. The theme of migration needs to be played down. There is no point in politicizing this subject, on the contrary.
We seem, in Poland and elsewhere, to “institutionalize” repressions, in fact …
Political currents are pushing to restrict the asylum space, taking as justification what is happening today on the Polish border. This erosion and the restriction of access to people genuinely seeking international protection are very worrying and contrary to the values proclaimed by the Union. This can have a huge impact in the world, where many countries, much less wealthy, are, much more than us, affected by the influx of refugees. This could therefore strongly influence the practice of the right to asylum almost everywhere.
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