{"id":159106,"date":"2025-10-08T13:23:39","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T10:23:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/159106\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","slug":"minsk-envoy-blames-belarus-western-neighbors-for-migrant-deaths","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/159106\/","title":{"rendered":"Minsk envoy blames Belarus\u2019 western neighbors for migrant deaths"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

October 8, Pozirk.<\/em> <\/strong>At the 76th session of the UN Refugee Agency’s Executive Committee yesterday, Belarus’ permanent representative sharply criticized the country\u2019s neighbors, repeating long-standing accusations that they are responsible for the deaths of undocumented migrants at the border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the past four years, Belarus has documented more than 80 deaths of irregular migrants \u201cas a result of violent actions by the security forces of Western neighbors,\u201d the Belarusian foreign ministry quoted \u0141arysa Bielskaja as saying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bielskaja accused Latvia, Lithuania and Poland of violating human rights and causing the deaths of people forced to leave their homes in search of safety and a better life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belarusian officials always blame Polish, Lithuanian and Latvian officers for pushbacks and suffering endured by third-country nationals seeking to cross the border into the EU from Belarus and ask for asylum there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, a report<\/a> by the Oxfam and Egala human rights groups released earlier this year said that third-country foreigners attempting to cross into the European Union from Belarus face pushbacks and violence on both sides of the border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Belarus, people are at times detained in camps or forced to create makeshift camps in the forest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMany are consequently gathered by uniformed personnel and coerced to cross the border at specific points. . . . People on the move report being prevented by Belarusian forces from leaving the border region or returning to the capital, Minsk, meaning they have no option to escape the cycle of violence in the Sistema, except by attempting to cross into Poland.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe policy of pushbacks, together with extensive border fortifications on the Polish side \u2013 including a five-m-high border fence topped with razor wire \u2013 can trap people in the border area, an area known as the Sistema or \u2018death zone,\u2019 for days, weeks or even months,\u201d the report stressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBoth those detained in camps and those apprehended by Belarusian forces in the forest report being subjected to violence and extortion, as well as deprivation and confiscation of water, food and shelter,\u201d the report reads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Foreigners who have managed to return to Minsk said they had to pay bribes up to \u20ac5,000 to officers to be able to do so, which is an exorbitant amount for many of them. In June, several witnesses said they saw Belarusian officers breaking a man\u2019s arm for saying he wanted to return to Minsk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The nonprofits documented accounts of theft or extortion of property, threats with firearms, psychological humiliation, beatings, use of dogs to threaten or injure people, torture, including waterboarding and electrocution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWomen and girls face particularly extreme risks, with significant reports of sexual abuse by Belarusian forces, including rape and gang rape,\u201d rights defenders stressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The migration crisis at the Belarusian-EU border has been ongoing since spring 2021 after Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka, angered by EU sanctions, had indicated that Minsk would not prevent people from Africa and Asia from traveling through Belarus to the EU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belarus\u2019 western neighbors call the crisis a \u201chybrid attack\u201d orchestrated by Minsk and Moscow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Irregular border crossings from Belarus into Poland rising since October 1<\/h3>\n
October 8, Pozirk. The number of irregular crossings by third-country foreigners from Belarus into Poland surged by 20.4 percent to 591 from October 1 to 6 after 491 attempts recorded in the previous six-day period, according to Pozirk's analysis of …<\/div>\n \n