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Members of the Polish parliament should reject a bill that would allow the government to temporarily suspend the right to asylum at Poland’s border with Belarus.
Human Rights Watch reports that the European Commission should act to uphold the European Union treaties and member states’ obligations, including providing access to the asylum procedure.
“Poland, which currently holds the EU presidency, should lead by example and ensure that people fleeing war and persecution are given the opportunity to have their claims individually assessed,” said Lydia Gall, senior Europe and Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch. “This bill flies in the face of Poland’s international and EU obligations and should be voted down.”
The Bill risks formalizing ongoing unlawful and abusive pushbacks at Poland’s border with Belarus. It would expose people to abuses and inhuman conditions in Belarus in violation of the principles of nonrefoulement, which prohibits returns to a country where people may face torture or inhuman or degrading treatment.
If passed, it would allow the Polish government to suspend the right to seek asylum for a period of up to 60 days along specific sections of the border. Extensions beyond this period could be authorized with parliamentary approval and renewed indefinitely. Exceptions would be made for vulnerable people, including unaccompanied children, pregnant women, and those who require special treatment due to their age or health. Belarusian citizens, and anyone who can “unequivocally prove they are at risk of suffering serious harm” if returned to Belarus.
Explanatory notes to the draft law say that border guards will assess who would qualify for exemptions. However, the border guards are neither trained nor equipped to make such determinations, which should be made by the Office of Foreigners in Poland. People seeking protection in Poland on the Belarus border have told Human Rights Warch that Polish border guards ignore their request to seek asylum. This is a long-standing concern and underscores that such an arrangement does not provide an adequate safeguard against refoulement.
Formally suspending the right to asylum could effectively completely seal off the Polan-Belarus border, where Polish authorities already engage in unlawful and abusive pushbacks, Human Rights Watch said.
