TonThe small fire they are creating is of little help to refugee and immigrant families trying to cross the border between Belarus and Poland and desperately reaching European territory.Cold temperatures and lack of humanitarian support have caused at least 9 deaths, while dozens Reported The injuries, theft and abuse suffered by the authorities.
Another humanitarian disaster is unfolding at the door of the European Union.
Poland responds to deployment 20,000 border police, Fired water cannons and tear gas at asylum seekers, strengthened border fences and prevented journalists and aid organizations from entering. This need to respond is understandable: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko used refugees and migrants as pawns of political interest to induce them to leave the Middle East to deliberately create a border crisis, which is heinous. Despite this, Poland’s militarization reaction was disproportionate, and it was– According to the United Nations -Violation of humanitarian law and the right of asylum. However, although Lukashenko’s actions are shocking, the real culprit of this crisis is a series of short-sighted and transactional agreements reached with EU neighboring countries in recent years.
The root cause of the latest military upgrade-not only involving Poland, but also a nominal amount of Army from Britain, and also EU sanctions with NATO strongly condemns And members United Nations Security Council – Since 2015, the fear of immigration has been looming over EU politics. Since the Brexit referendum, the dogma of “deterrence at all costs” has dominated immigration policy, including deployment of illegal “push back“On external borders, such as dragging migrants back to the ship they arrived, rounding up refugees on land and forcing them to return to sea, and informal detention.
The Polish government has long implemented a strict immigration agenda by closing borders. Even doing so in violation of EU law with Don’t listen to the phone Humane treatment of asylum seekers.
Poland is no exception. With the deepening of divisions within the EU and the prospect of a responsible refugee asylum program in the foreseeable future, the promotion of immigration management to agreements with non-EU countries has become the EU’s preferred solution.
to make sure EU-Turkey Agreement In 2016, member states turned a blind eye to Turkey’s human rights violations in exchange for preventing refugees from reaching the Greek Islands.By paying Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to “keep immigrants out”, the EU first introduced Incorporating refugees into foreign policy as a bargaining chipSince then, it has created a precedent.
Similar arrangements exist in the border areas of Europe.In Libya, the European Union provide support The Libyan Coast Guard intercepts asylum seekers at sea and sends them back Detention center They face physical and sexual abuse there. The standoff between Spain and Morocco this spring in the Spanish North African coastal city of Ceuta (and one of the EU’s main partners in controlling immigration from African countries) revealed the same pattern of immigrants being used for political gain. After Madrid allowed the leaders of the Western Sahara independence movement to receive treatment for COVID-19 in Spain, Spain accused Morocco of flooding its borders with a large number of immigrants-2,000 of them were unaccompanied children. A few months old baby was rescued by Guardia Civil. The scene of the children swimming to the shore using plastic bottles as floats is a clear reminder of the real victims of fear of immigration in Europe.
Not only the transactional immigration policy in Europe, but also the language used, laid the foundation for these recurring deadlocks. Throughout European countries and political parties, refugees and immigrants are often seen as threats to national security. The Greek, Polish, and Turkish media used “war” statements at the border; Brussels also used militarized language. In response to the incident on the Belarusian border this summer, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Lein vowed to fight back what she called “Hybrid attacks that destabilize Europe“.
Describing and treating refugees as weapons diverts attention from the real danger: protecting the safety and rights of people trapped at the border. The EU’s externalization of immigration control does not justify the Belarusian regime’s deliberate strategy of planning a humanitarian crisis supported by the state. But it should remind EU leaders of the dangers of dealing with humans in a transactional manner.
Suspicious immigration transactions and anti-immigration messages not only undermine the right to asylum, but also threaten the fundamental foundation of the European project—it may need to be reminded: to promote peace, human rights and dignity, and to provide freedom, security and justice without internal borders. As long as EU countries do not respect asylum laws and continue to treat refugees with hostility and violence, countries such as Belarus, Morocco, and Turkey will continue to exploit their fear of immigration. The European Union has created its own Achilles’ heel—humans continue to pay for it.
