Poland to suspend right to asylum as ‘hybrid war’ escalates on Belarus border

Poland will temporarily bar refugees from claiming asylum in the country after crossing the border from neighboring Belarus, amid warnings that Russia and its allies are using migrants to try to destabilize the EU.

Speaking on Saturday at a meeting of the governing Civic Coalition party, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that a new migration strategy would include “the temporary territorial suspension of the right to asylum.”

“I will demand this,” insisted Tusk, a former president of the European Council, pre-empting challenges from Brussels over the legality of the move. “I will demand recognition in Europe for this decision.”

According to Tusk, the bloc’s asylum rights are being actively abused by Belarus and Russia. “This right to asylum is used exactly against the essence of the right to asylum,” Tusk said.

Tens of thousands of would-be immigrants, many from the Middle East and Africa, have attempted to cross the border into Poland via Belarus in recent years, with as many as 2,500 reported last month and more than 26,000 so far this year.

Belarusian border guards have been seen actively aiding the groups as part of what Tusk has previously branded a “hybrid war” tactic designed to drive anti-migration sentiment and tie up state resources. Poland has already begun investing in stronger border infrastructure to try to deter irregular crossings. A special border zone has been established to give tougher powers to local authorities.

In September, the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Michael O’Flaherty, warned of “the challenges posed by the instrumentalization of migration and destabilizing actions of the Belarusian authorities on the Polish-Belarusian border.”

However, O’Flaherty said, Poland’s policy of returning migrants without assessing their potential claims “does not allow for full respect of international human rights standards” and “exposes them to the risk of serious violations of the rights protected by the European Convention on Human Rights.”

The European Commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment from POLITICO.

Belarus stands accused of offering visas to desperate people in war-torn countries like Syria and encouraging them to fly to the country as a transit stop on the way to the EU. The country’s authoritarian president, one of Moscow’s closest allies, said in 2021 that he encouraged migrants to try to cross the frontier. “It’s up to you,” Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko told a crowd of people sleeping rough at the border, “go through. Go!”

Amnesty International warns that asylum seekers, “including families with children, often in need of immediate help, have been beaten with batons and rifle butts and threatened with security dogs by Belarusian forces” as they attempt to cross into safety in Poland.