Source: Patch One Knife
Penmanship/Sword Laugh
Poland's actions have "constituted grave human rights violations".
As the crisis along Poland's border with Belarus continues to intensify, "what Poland is doing against unarmed refugees" has attracted increasing international attention.
Winter is coming. The situation of the thousands of refugees stranded on the Polish-Belarusian border is even more difficult. More and more tragic stories are being presented in the media.
But while Poland poured bitter water on the EU and NATO, claiming that it was suffering from "defending European peace", it continued to increase its troops on the border, put more barbed wire and the wall, and tried to extend the no-go zone aimed at "trapping" any refugee who had slipped through the net.
Poland is "flagrantly flouting eu human rights laws".
Not only in Poland, but also in the mainstream voices of the United States and Europe, international public opinion has also become more and more aware that Poland's treatment of refugees is "too inhumane". In order to deter refugees, the Polish border guards have used equipment such as tear gas and water cannons. Belarus revealed that the blisters even contain toxic chemicals.
Poland has repeatedly stressed itself as a "victim", but its "coldness" in the face of refugees has made it highly criticized. The Polish government, which has tried its best to side with the United States in the past, is now stirring up Russian-Spanish relations as always, which has also led to the delay in alleviating this crisis.
The Polish government is in such a situation that it is not at all innocent.
01
The narrow forest strip of eastern Poland, which borders Belarus, is becoming a nightmare for thousands of Middle Eastern refugees.
"People are dying in the forest," a report by Qatar's Al Jazeera television headlined a worsening humanitarian crisis.
Stories of the tragic situation of refugees are growing in the media.
Counting the two newly identified dead in the past week, the number of refugees killed since the outbreak of the Polish-Belarusian border crisis has increased to more than 10. Humanitarian organizations say there are more actual deaths, including children.
The situation is clearly getting worse, as the cold is coming.
The border between The Two Andes is more than 400 kilometres long and is dotted with forests and swamps, and some ancient forests are even inscribed on the World Heritage List. Known for their vast wild beauty, these jungles are a complete disaster for the roughly 4,000 Middle Eastern refugees stranded nearby.
The long, wet winter is just around the corner, and the local nighttime temperature is already below freezing. Refugees, who had nowhere to go, including the elderly, women and young children, suffered from hunger and hardship. "We were so hungry that there was no water or food here". Many refugees are in despair.
The Toughness and Brutality of the Polish Government made their situation worse.
Russia Today (RT) said the crisis began brewing this summer, with refugees from Afghanistan, Iraq and several other Middle Eastern countries wishing to enter the European Union to seek asylum under international law, with the ultimate destination being Western European countries such as Germany, France and the Netherlands.
But as soon as they reached the Polish border, they were forcibly blocked and put in a dilemma.
The Polish government accused White Russia of a "hybrid attack" against Poland and the European Union, and said it was behind Russia's instigation. Warsaw cried out in grievances, and the European Union, NATO and the United States immediately expressed their support.
The Polish-Belarusian border crisis has also evolved into a new geopolitical conflict point between the United States and Europe and Russia and Belarus.
Poland has emphaticized itself as a victim and says it is suffering for the European Union and the West as a whole. The attention of international public opinion was quickly directed to how Europe and the United States could support Poland and confront Russia and Belarus.
What is the situation on the Polish-Belarusian border? What are refugees experiencing?
These problems, which should have been focused earlier, were once "dark under the lights".
But as the tragic situation of stranded refugees, especially the details of Poland's strong resistance to refugees, are increasingly revealed, public opinion in the United States, Europe and even Poland has discovered what Warsaw is doing to the refugees.
As early as September 2, the Polish government declared a state of emergency on the border, and the entire narrow area within 3 kilometers of the Belarusian-Russian border was classified as a restricted area.
In the martial law zone, the Polish people are not allowed to give any assistance to refugees who break into it, and the media, aid organizations, etc. are not allowed to enter. Even if someone crosses the border line into the martial law zone, they can only be trapped in the cold forest, without food or drink, without cold supplies.
On the other side of the penalty area was a densely barbed wire fence and a tightly guarded Polish border guard.
It has been reported that there are 23,000 Polish border guards stationed on the border, of which the main force is the border guards, as well as a considerable number of border guards and police. They set up barricades and strictly controlled the entry and exit of people. As soon as any refugee is found to have "illegally crossed the border", they are immediately arrested and expelled.
The Polish Ministry of Defense refers to the attempts of refugees to enter Polish territory as a "cross-border invasion" as if facing an enemy army.
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Poland's rough and opaque treatment of refugees has drawn increasing criticism.
The Kremlin Information Bureau said that during a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron on the 15th, Putin specifically pointed out that the Polish border guards treated refugees "coldly and ruthlessly."
But Poland continues to accuse Belarus of deliberately encouraging refugees to cross the border illegally and to be held accountable for their situation. In a text message to border refugees, Warsaw said "The Belarusian authorities have lied to you. Come back to Minsk! Do not take any pills given by the White Russian soldiers. ”
Belarus countered that it was fulfilling its utmost responsibility to stop illegal immigration.
President Lukashenko stressed that "efforts are under way to persuade these people. But they don't want to go home. They clearly have nowhere to go back."
The United States and Europe pushed for a "color revolution" in the Middle East, leading to "they no longer have a home."
Belarusian border services say they are not equipped with any weapons, but also distribute firewood, food and water to refugees, and provide medical assistance within their capabilities.
In a report a few days ago, a BBC reporter asked what a Kurdish refugee in Iraq was cooking. The other side confirmed that "Belarusians are providing supplies".
What the White Russian side is saying is only "one-sided words"? Isn't the Kurdish in the BBC reporting about the general situation? The US and European media have not surprisingly questioned it. But even Poland's inhumane and anti-human rights practices can no longer be avoided.
The establishment of martial law zones in Poland has drawn criticism from human rights organizations and international public opinion. Some Polish journalists bluntly said that Warsaw did this, making people suspect that it was deliberately covering up something.
The EU "cannot afford to sit idly by. In early November, two Polish university professors who had worked in the supervision department submitted a letter to the US media OUTLET questioning how serious the humanitarian crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border was, "Where has the European Border Agency gone?" ”
The article makes it clear that these refugees trying to cross the border are not terrorists. According to UN and EU human rights standards, they should be audited and received "in accordance with legal process" for whatever reason they come to the borders of Poland or the EU.
But the reality is that none of them get that kind of legal treatment.
The authors bluntly stated that Poland's actions against refugees "have constituted a serious human rights violation." Europe, on the other hand, turned a blind eye to Poland's "violations" and amounted to complicity.
Despite the constant criticism, the Polish government seems dismissive.
There were reports that EU officials had expressed concern about the situation on the Polish-Belarusian border in October, especially hearing of children trapped in harsh conditions in forests trying to negotiate with the Polish government.
But Warsaw's attitude is very clear: you don't have to intervene.
It is clear that Poland needs the support of the European Union, providing financial and public opinion support, and it is best to bring nato and the United States in to fight against White Russia and its "Russia behind it". But warsaw explicitly refused any finger-pointing to the strong deterrence of the refugees.
On the one hand, it frightened the wave of refugees in 2015, on the other hand, because they had just fallen out with Poland over judicial disputes, knowing that this thorn was not easy to smooth, coupled with the current need to "unite externally" against the Russian-Belarusian alliance, eu countries gave up the "human rights care" that they usually hung on, and instead pretended not to see Poland's strong resistance to refugees.
The Polish government insists on being tough, but also because it is right: it will increase its support at home.
For years, Poland's ruling Law and Justice Party has promoted an anti-immigrant stance, describing Middle Eastern refugees as a "threat to Polish culture and sovereignty." In this atmosphere, "never accept a refugee" gradually became the mainstream voice in Polish society.
It has been commented that the current practices of the Polish Government mean that "it is sacrificing the lives of refugees in the name of domestic political objectives".
03
The Polish-Belarusian border crisis "could last for months or even years."
Polish Defense Minister Błaszczak warned on the 17th. The escalation of the refugee crisis has made warsaw tough and nervous.
It is planned to build a 180-kilometer-long separation wall in the border area with Belarus, consider convening an emergency NATO meeting to discuss how to deal with the crisis, and push the EU to impose tougher sanctions on Belarus...
The Polish government is strengthening the "defensive line" through various means.
On the 11th of this month, Polish President Duda went to the border to inspect. In addition to meeting with local military police personnel, he personally participates in night border patrols. Some media said that the president's personal presence on the front line can not only show a firm posture, but also help to win more international sympathy.
But the problem is that in the context of the Confrontation between Russia and the West, Poland is not innocent.
A European scholar said that when President Duda walked on the barbed-wire Polish border at night, he did not know whether he remembered that three years ago, it was he who bent over and hunched over in the Oval Office of the White House and signed an agreement in front of then-US President Trump, actively promoting the acceleration of Polish-US military cooperation and strengthening Poland's status as nato's "vanguard force".
Us media disclosed that in order to curry favor with Washington, Duda took the initiative to propose to spend $2 billion to build a US military base in eastern Poland, and even suggested that the name should be "Fort Trump".
Duda's "efforts" have greatly promoted the upgrading of US-Polish military relations. In August last year, the two countries formally signed the "Agreement on Strengthening Defense Cooperation", and the US military stationed in Poland increased the number of troops by 1,000 troops. The Polish Defense Ministry also said the agreement paved the way for a permanent U.S. presence in Poland.
There is no doubt that this greatly stimulated Russia as well as Belarus.
At that time, some Polish scholars pointed out that the Polish government did not pay off the loss in doing so. But Poland is determined to become America's "number one partner" in Central and Eastern Europe.
On other issues, Warsaw also strongly supports the United States. For example, it supported the United States to boycott the Russian-European "Nord Stream-2" natural gas pipeline project, increased the purchase of US natural gas, and even followed the example of the United States in April this year and expelled three Russian diplomats.
There is no specific reason, that is, to express "full support for the US policy decision toward Russia."
A European scholar said that Poland's past performance has basically intensified the confrontation between the United States and Europe and Russia, and damaged mutual trust between the two sides. This was still the case in Poland after this border crisis. This has led to a delay in the resolution of the problem.
Therefore, the current situation in Poland is actually self-inflicted.
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