Migrants trapped on the Poland-Belarus border face a litany of abuses from authorities in both nations, who have denied food and water to men, women and children trapped in the winter cold, Human Rights Watch said in a report on Wednesday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th November, 2021) Migrants trapped on the Poland-Belarus border face a litany of abuses from authorities in both nations, who have denied food and water to men, women and children trapped in the winter cold, Human Rights Watch said in a report on Wednesday.
"Men, women, and children have been ping-ponged across the border for days or weeks in freezing weather, desperately needing humanitarian assistance that is being blocked on both sides," Human Rights Watch said in a press release summarizing the report.
In a series of interviews during a Human Rights Watch visit to the area in October, some said they were forced to drink swamp water or collect rain water in leaves to drink. At least 13 people have died as a result of inhumane conditions, including a year-old Syrian boy, the release said.
Until November 18, thousands of people on the Belarusian side were sleeping in a makeshift camp at Bruzgi, one of the major border crossings. Authorities who dismantled the camp placed some in a warehouse but the whereabouts of others remains unknown, the release said.
Since August, thousands of people, mainly from Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, have traveled to the capital Minsk, through middle East-based holiday tour operators making false claims of easy EU entry. Belarus opened the nation to migrants in retaliation to EU sanctions that followed a May hijacking by Belarus authorities of a Ryanair airplane to arrest a passenger, the release added.
Belarusian and Polish authorities have an obligation to prevent further deaths by ensuring regular humanitarian access to the people stuck in the border area, according to the release.
