The Białowieża Forest, the last remaining primeval forest in lowland Europe, became the scene of a humanitarian crisis in August 2021 after Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko opened a new, unofficial migratory route into Europe and thousands of migrants began arriving at the Polish border.

Polish authorities, seeing the situation at the border as part of a larger effort by Russia to destabilize the region it once controlled during Soviet times, refused to let the migrants cross. As an additional measure, the conservative government in Warsaw introduced a state of emergency in the region between September 2, 2021 and July 1, 2022, forbidding reporters and human rights activists from approaching the area to see what was going on.

Unable to stand by and watch, local residents and activists began going into the forest with hot soup and blankets for the refugees. Lacking a hierarchy or chain of command, they braved the harsh conditions of the forest and aimed to help with whatever skills they had. 

'I thought I could help with my knowledge of immigration law'

Marta Górczyńska, a lawyer and head of the migration department at the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, is one of them. "I thought I could help with my knowledge of immigration law but it was naïve of me," she said. Along with other human rights lawyers, local doctors, and volunteers, Górczyńska tried to come into contact with the refugees when the humanitarian crisis began. "All of us had some kind of experience, but no one ever had to treat someone in a pitch-black forest," she said.

Also read: Poland's ruling party 'instrumentalizes' migrants for electoral gain

Over time, their efforts ran up against those of the border guard (Straż Graniczna) and the State. "The whole policy is exactly the same as it was two years ago" said Górczyńska, remembering the group of around 30 Afghan refugees who were stranded in the border zone for weeks in 2021, while Poland and Belarus both refused to take them in. 

Bartek Rumienczyk, representing the communication team of Grupa Granica, a social movement and network that delivers humanitarian aid to refugees and migrants at the border, agreed. "Not much has changed on the Eastern front, as the humanitarian crisis is still ongoing. However we observe reaching for new levels of cruelty and violence in EU border control. The perfect example is the construction of a border fence which has given rise to specific injuries," he said.

The completion of the 187 kilometer fence along the border with Belarus coincided with the end of the state of emergency last summer. Over 5 meters tall and topped with barbed wire, the fence didn’t succeed in stopping the influx of migrants. "People climb the fence and fall on the barbed wire lying on the other side. We see cuts on people’s bodies, along with broken spines and pelvises," said Rumienczyk.

Switching from bureaucracy to crisis mode

Many of the humanitarian organizations like Ocalenie (Rescue) Foundation or the Association of Legal Intervention operating in the border region were accustomed to helping migrants or refugees integrate into Polish society and deal with the bureaucracy in the country. In 2021, however, they had to switch to crisis mode; working in snow and frost in the winter to bring life-saving survival kits to the refugees, with the additional pressure of potentially being apprehended by the police.

Also read: Migrants stage hunger strike in Poland's detention centers

"We had to become experts at delivering aid," said Rumienczyk. "People had to learn what to take into the forest (like NRC foil or life packages of protein bars), how to check someone’s temperature in order to assess whether they are dealing with hypothermia or not, how to give injections and IV drips and so on and so forth."

Many activists noted that calling an ambulance often entailed alerting the border guard, because the medics that were summoned would often always arrive along with the local authorities. This meant volunteers in the area had to make complex decisions on the spot, like weighing the decision of getting professional medical help for a migrant and potentially leading to their detention, over the one of not calling an ambulance and letting the individual deal with the complications of their sickness or injury. Non-governmental organizations operating in the zone have counted 50 migrant deaths and estimate that hundreds are missing.

October 2021: Two new amendments passed

In October 2021, two amendments were passed by the Polish parliament allowing for migrant pushbacks at the border, without assessing the risk of possible human rights violations. The amendment also allowed for leaving the foreigner’s application for international protection without examination.

Civil society and the UNHCR criticized the amendments, saying they violated the principle of not returning foreigners to countries where they may be in danger (the principle of non-refoulement). "This is something we had to learn on the spot," said Rumieczyk. "If a man with a cardboard sign stating 'I want asylum' was taken by the border police and no one saw him again, the only answer very often was that he was taken to Belarus."

Also read: Lampedusa: Is proclaiming a 'state of emergency' helpful?

With the increased awareness about the pushbacks, the issue of missing migrants has emerged, with around 200 people estimated to be missing as of January 2023. Sometimes people are found in guarded detention centers around the border, while sometimes bodies are found. "In order to identify a body, a DNA sample is needed. With the support of grassroots organizations, families are financially assisted to travel to Poland to provide their DNA," said Górczyńska.

Since late June of this year, Poland has been increasingly militarizing the border zone. Last month, the Polish minister of defense announced that up to 10,000 Polish Army and Territorial Defense troops will be stationed on the border with Belarus, in addition to the usual border guards.

Upcoming elections in the fall

With upcoming legislative elections in October, "the ruling [Law and Justice (PiS)] uses fear management tactics during the election campaign. They create a big threat and put on a show to reassure citizens that they know how to protect them against it," said Aleksandra Chrzanowska, a member of the Polish NGO Association for legal intervention and Grupa Granica. "They try to present the situation at the border as much more dangerous than it was before, first with the presence of Wagner Group [in Belarus] and secondly with many more people trying to cross the border into Poland."

However, she says there hasn't been an increase in the number of people asking for humanitarian help. The border guard, on the other hand, has published a flurry of social media posts in recent weeks about the migrants they have stopped along the border zone. "The border guard never provides exact statistics, they only talk about who they prevented from entering the Polish territory," said Chrzanowska. "If they say they stopped 100 people at the border, it means it’s probably the same people who are trying the cross the border multiple times."

After two years, many activists are exhausted and disappointed that the humanitarian crisis at the border is not capturing as much attention as it used to. The most significant change is what used to be an emergency situation has become normalized. "This is just another migratory route on our border, like the Mediterranean or Balkan route," said Kalina Czwarnóg of Ocalenie Foundation. "If the European Union is using pushbacks, why would Poland act any differently?"

The power of civil society

Many of the activists say they are motivated by a feeling of anger and helplessness. "I see no political will to stop pushbacks, in Poland and on the EU level. If I can go to the forest and help groups of individuals survive, I can do something that has an immediate, small impact and not feel totally helpless," said Chrzanowska.

Rumienczyk said he was particularly touched by the people of Syrian origin who had migrated from Lebanon. "These are people who are not only escaping war but also poverty," he said. He noted that in the public debate around who should be given asylum, a distinction was made between refugees and economic migrants, but "reality is not black and white."

Also read: Exclusive: Why are migrant pushbacks from Bulgaria to Turkey soaring?

The dynamic of cooperation among civil society working along the Polish-Belarusian border has transformed over the past two years, with groups spread out through the region often coordinating with one another and transferring calls on their alarm phones to the groups that are nearest to the caller. "I still believe pushbacks have to end," said Górczyńska, "and the reason for them to end may be due to the collective effort of civil society.

You have to be confronted by the crisis to understand the amount of suffering," she concluded with resignation.

Contacts:

The Association for Legal Intervention

We offer free of charge legal support for migrants in the fields of migration, asylum and human rights, discrimination, etc. To consult a lawyer, registration is required.

You can arrange an appointment by phone from Monday to Friday between 15:00 and 16:00 at: + 48 880 145 372.

Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights

Wiejska 16

00-490 Warsaw

Tel: +48 22 556 44 40

e-mail: hfhr [at] hfhr.pl

You can contact us by phone from Monday to Friday between 10:00 am and 2:00 pm.