Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk has announced an information campaign in countries of origin to discourage migrants from trying to cross into Poland irregularly from neighboring Belarus. The move comes on the heels of a new law that temporarily suspends the right to asylum.
Poland will launch an information campaign abroad to deter migrants from trying to cross into the European Union through its border with Belarus, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Friday (April 4).
"We will soon launch an information campaign in seven countries where the largest number of migrants trying to illegally cross the Polish border come from," Tusk said in Polish in a video published on social media on Friday.
"They are lying to you when they say that this is the way to Europe," he added.
According to Notes from Poland, the campaign is to "warn them [migrants] that Poland has suspended the right to claim asylum and strengthened the border to prevent irregular crossings."
The Polish government has blamed Belarus and its ally Russia for what it calls a hybrid operation to increase the number of migrants arriving at its eastern border in a bid to destabilize the EU. Both Belarus and Russia have repeatedly denied these allegations.
"Our message will be simple: the Polish border is sealed. Do not believe the smugglers, do not believe (Alexander) Lukashenko, do not believe (Vladimir) Putin," Tusk said, referring to the Belarusian and Russian leaders.
Last week, the Polish government temporarily suspended the right to seek asylum. The move is intended to deter irregular migrants and is designed to strengthen migration policy across the country, including at the western border with Germany.
The new legislation allows Poland to suspend the right to asylum for 60 days at a time, and has been criticized by UN agency UNHCR and several human rights groups.
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Little concrete information
Tusk did not say which "seven countries" he was referring to, neither in the social media video nor elsewhere.
According to news agency AFP, he last year listed Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Yemen as countries where Russia sought to "recruit" migrants to send them to the Polish border by flying them to Moscow before allegedly moving them on to Belarus.
Moreover, Ethiopians, Eritreans, Somalis, Syrians, Sudanese, Yemenis and Afghans applied for asylum most often, Notes from Poland reported citing Polish border guard data.
Tens of thousands of migrants of mainly Middle Eastern, African and Asian origin have tried to enter Poland, Lithuania and Latvia via the so-called Belarus route since August 2021.
In 2022, Poland started building a five-meter high metal fence on its border with Belarus to deter migrants. The barrier, which is equipped with thousands of cameras and motion sensors, covers less than half of the roughly 400 kilometers of Polish-Belarussian border.
Increase in attempted border crossings
Polish authorities have expressed concerns about a renewed increase of activity at the border over the last year.
According to Notes from Poland citing Polish border guard data, more than 15,000 applications for international protection were submitted in Poland last year, a 42 percent increase over 2023 and higher since the previous record of more than 11,000 asylum applications in 2016.
Last summer, a Polish soldier was killed while on border patrol. Human rights groups report the deaths of around 100 migrants in the border area between Belarus and Poland since 2021.
According to the Polish border guard, its personnel registered 480 unauthorized attempts to cross the border from Belarus between April 4-6.
The Republic of Poland, which has a population of 37 million, will hold Presidential elections on May 18. Current and outgoing President Andrzej Duda, a former member of the opposition right-wing populist Law and Justice (PiS) party, signed the aforementioned controversial asylum law.
Both PiS and Tusk's ruling government coalition, which replaced PiS in December 2023, have taken tough measures in response to the high number of irregular migrant arrivals via Belarus.
Aside from the border fence, measures have included a temporary state of emergency and a no-entry buffer zone along the border to prevent people from entering the area.
with AFP
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