UN Special Rapporteur on Migrant Rights Felipe Jones Morales said that acts of violence against migrants were committed on both sides of the Polish-Belarusian border.
Morales added during a press conference held today, Thursday, July 28, after a visit to Poland and Belarus, that the Polish border guards used water cannons, which is disproportionate and ineffective in the circumstances.
According to the UN, at least 20 migrants died in the forests on the border between Poland and Belarus, and, according to him, Belarusian border guards did not take any action to prevent a group of 2,500 migrants from crossing the border with Poland.
In 2021, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland reported an increase in the number of illegal immigrants from the countries of the Middle East and Africa detained at the border with Belarus, and accused Minsk of creating a migration crisis, while the Belarusian side categorically denied these accusations. .
For their part, the Belarusian border guards have repeatedly stated that the forced expulsion of migrants is carried out by Lithuania, Poland and Latvia to the territory of Belarus. Moreover, on the air of Belarusian television, a Polish soldier who fled to Belarus accused the Polish security forces of systematically killing migrants from the countries of the Middle East and Africa, in addition to killing two volunteers, and said that he was forced to shoot at migrants.
On the border of Belarus and Poland, a group of migrants, mostly Kurds, has formed, striving to cross the border of the European Union, numbering more than two thousand people, and when trying to cross the border with Poland at the Prozhye checkpoint in the Grodno region of Belarus, the Polish security forces stopped the attempt with the help of special equipment .
Source: RIA Novosti