Pieter, yes, Belarus is playing with EU countries by using the immigrants as the puppets. Initially many people came to try to help and they were angry at Polish govermment, but this is all Lukashenko dirty play.
+++The Russians or Belarussians will think twice before invading Poland, because they know Poland will have NATO backing in the case of war. +++
who knows? There are so many irresponsible forces behind it? Lets hope nothing worse will happen
Pieter, thanks. Polish mass media talk less about the issue of these migrants, lets hope that the situation would get resolved. Lukashenko is a crazy man, but he is not the only crazy leader.
Fifth migrant dies in Belarus border area - Polish Border Guard
WARSAW, Sept 24 (Reuters) - An Iraqi migrant died after crossing into Poland from Belarus, Polish officials said on Friday, the fifth such death in the border area in the past week amid a surge in illegal migration across the European Union's eastern frontier.
Poland, Lithuania and the EU have accused Belarus of encouraging migrants, mostly from Iraq and Afghanistan, to cross the borders as a form of pressure on the bloc over sanctions Brussels has imposed on Minsk over human rights abuses.
"Last night a group of immigrants from Iraq was detained 500 meters from the border with Belarus. One of the men, despite having been resuscitated by a patrol and an ambulance team, died (probably of a heart attack)," the Polish Border Guard said on Twitter.
I am very sorry to hear of the death of five people over some thing as of this and then the man dying of a heart attack is another situation. All these deaths are for no good reason and these people will never walk the earth again.
They found a Syrian woman with extremely low body temperature, but they were able to rescue her in Polish hospital and her husband from Germany recognized her and traveled to Poland and she recognized him also. It almost looks like a miracle fakty.tvn24.pl/ogladaj-online,60/bialystok-syryjka-z-hipotermia-rozpoznana-na-zdjeciach-ktore-wyslal-do-szpitala-jej-maz,1079674.html
Lukashenko had an interview in the CNN and he is becoming a completely crazy guy claiming that people who are against him are paid by foreign governments only. He is not admitting to cause these actions at the boarder. Europe need to start to deal with him:
On the southern border of the EU, Der Spiegel reports on illegal beating and push-back of people seeking asylum. I repeat the text here, but highly recommend the original article for additional content at
Beatings at the Border Europe's Violent Shadow Army Unmasked
Mysterious men wearing balaclavas are beating up refugees at the external EU border or abandoning them at sea. Months of reporting now reveals who is behind the operations.
By Giorgos Christides, Bashar Deeb, Klaas van Dijken, Alexander Epp, Steffen Lüdke, Andrei Popoviciu, Lamia Šabić, Jack Sapoch, Phevos Simeonidis und Nicole Vögele 07.10.2021, 16.44 Uhr
You can hear the blows before you can see them. The noise of blunt objects striking arms, legs and backs filters through the thick shrubbery on the border between Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. People screaming in pain, gasping and whimpering.
Powerful men in dark uniforms are standing on the Croatian side of the border on this hot June day. They are battering Afghans and Pakistanis who have come to Europe to apply for asylum.
All of the men are wearing balaclavas; one of them has also donned black sunglasses. Their uniforms bear no insignia to ensure that they are completely unrecognizable. They are completely unaware that just a few meters away, hiding behind just a couple of bushes and trees, two reporters are filming their every move.
The videos document how these masked men chase 22 refugees out of the European Union, forcing them back into Bosnia-Herzegovina. One of the masked men swings again and again with his club, aiming at the legs of the migrants and making them stumble into the chest-deep border river. He then raises his arm in a threatening gesture and yells: "Go! Go to Bosnia!"
Human rights experts refer to such operations as pushbacks, and they are illegal, violating both EU law and the Geneva Refugee Convention. The deportation of migrants must not put them in danger and once they have reached European territory, they must be given the opportunity to apply for asylum. And beating defenseless people is prohibited anyway.
NGOs, like the Border Violence Monitoring Network, and several media outlets, including DER SPIEGEL, have collected the testimony of hundreds of refugees and assembled evidence of violence committed on the EU’s external border. The incidents are not limited to the regular beatings of asylum seekers committed on the Croatian border. In the Aegean, according to witness testimony, masked men have repeatedly pulled refugees out to sea and abandoned them on inflatable rafts.
Who are these mysterious men who abuse people on the EU’s external borders? And from where did they get their orders to reject would-be asylum seekers with such brutality?
DER SPIEGEL has spent more than eight months reporting on the EU’s external border in Croatia and Greece together with several other European media outlets, including Lighthouse Reports, Swiss broadcaster SRF, the German public broadcaster ARD, the French daily Libération, the Serbian paper Novosti, the Croatian broadcaster RTL and the Dutch outlet Pointer. The reporters disguised themselves as fishermen to get closer, they flew drones over the border region, examined satellite images and analyzed hundreds of videos that were sent to them. They spoke with more than a dozen sources in various security agencies and followed the digital tracks left by the men, who posed with their balaclavas and clubs on Instagram and Facebook.
The reporting reveals a system. Special units from Croatia and Greece, trained to go after hooligans and drug dealers, have been deployed to force asylum seekers out of the EU. They mostly operate in the shadows – and are paid by the citizens of Europe.
Because of the secrecy surrounding these units, there has been almost no public debate about their activities, nor has any political justification been presented. The governments in Zagreb and Athens act as though the violence is merely a figment of journalists’ imaginations and claim there is no proof – and certainly no evidence of state involvement. But that evidence has now been found.
Nazila and her brother Farzin: "If you tell them that you refuse to go back to Bosnia, they get furious." Bild vergrößern Nazila and her brother Farzin: "If you tell them that you refuse to go back to Bosnia, they get furious." Foto: DER SPIEGEL / Lighthouse Reports Croatia: Operation Koridor Nazila has been seeking a safe place to live for almost her entire life. The 16-year-old was born in Afghanistan and lived for several years with her family in Iran. Three years ago, she reached the notorious Camp Moria on the Greek island of Lesbos, before her family finally decided to risk the Balkan Route. Now, she is sitting in the grass on the Bosnian side of the border with her little brother Farzin. Her hair parted down the middle, Nazila is wearing a loose white T-shirt. She says that if she ever finds a new home, she would like to become an actress.
As she talks, Nazila fiddles with her ring. Her most recent encounter with the masked men at the border was just two days previous. Thus far, Nazila says, the men have always managed to intercept the family when they have tried to cross the border. The men, she says, have kicked her brother and taken their money and mobile phones. "If you tell them that you refuse to go back to Bosnia, they get furious," says Nazila. The family, she says, has not yet been allowed to apply for asylum.
The journalists involved in this story managed to film parts of the pushback of Nazila and her family. Drone images show two white vans at one of the most notorious pushback spots. Asylum seekers call the place "Three Rivers," since it is where the Korana River, which demarcates the border here, divides into three arms. The images show six men in uniform unloading the intercepted refugees like cattle from one of the vans. At least one of the men pulls on a mask. They then escort the refugees toward Bosnia.
Croatian officials claim that the refugees are just acting. That they smear themselves with cherry syrup to make it look like they are bleeding. And that they are sometimes beaten by violent gangs on the Bosnian side of the border. But our reporters were able to film 11 illegal pushbacks. All of them took place away from the official border crossings.
The reporting shows that at least some of the pushbacks are performed by officers from the Croatian Intervention Police, a state unit that is under the command of the Interior Ministry.
Evidence for that conclusion comes first from a forensic analysis of the video material. The masked men are wearing dark blue uniforms during the pushbacks. The quilted jackets worn by the men can clearly be seen in video footage, and they are identical to the model worn by the Intervention Police: a diamond-shaped quilt pattern along with sealed, vertical zippers. The clubs carried by the men – so-called Tonfa – have a characteristic T-handle. The truncheons are part of the official equipment issued to the force.
SPIEGEL/Lighthouse Reports/Medienpartner
Second, six of the Croatian officers we interviewed were convinced after looking at the images that the masked men belonged to the Intervention Police. All of the police interviewed asked that their names not be used in order to protect their safety. But additional images from pushbacks conducted in May support their conclusion. The images show a police officer in action – on this occasion with no mask on. On his back are the easily identifiable words: "Interventna Policija," Intervention Police.
Border guards during a pushback: "Interventna Policija"
Border guards during a pushback: "Interventna Policija" Foto: DER SPIEGEL / Lighthouse Reports / SRF / Medienpartner Normally, the unit is responsible for keeping hooligans in check and conducts raids. Members receive special training, during which they are taught how to wield a truncheon. Many of the unit’s leaders are war veterans who spent the 1990s fighting against Serbian troops. Some of the men can be seen on Instagram and Facebook with right-wing extremist and fascist symbols, while others pose with their weapons and masks at the border.
For their participation in the special operations against the migrants at the border, the member of the Intervention Police receive bonus payments, say several Croatian officers, usually amounting to several hundred euros per month. While in the field, they are put up in hotels in places like the resort town of Topusko. At the border, they work together with additional Croatian police units who have better knowledge of the terrain. According to the officers, the operations are conducted under the command of high-ranking police officials in the capital of Zagreb, within the Interior Ministry’s authority. Its codename: "Koridor."
Goran Novak, whose name has been changed for this article at his request, is part of operation Koridor. He says his unit regularly uses physical force against asylum seekers. "When we find migrants in the woods, they usually lie down on the ground in fear," Novak says. One of the officers in his unit, he says, often walks past them and bashes their legs with his truncheon. Headquarters in Zagreb decides whether pushbacks will then be carried out. Another police officer is even more straightforward: Of course the pushbacks are illegal, he says, every policeman knows that. But the orders come from way up the command chain, out of the Interior Ministry.
Charred trash on the border: "Not the decision of an individual police officer."
Charred trash on the border: "Not the decision of an individual police officer." Foto: DER SPIEGEL / Lighthouse Reports / ARD / Medienpartner DER SPIEGEL and its partners have confronted the Croatian Interior Ministry with the accusations and the video material. In response, the ministry announced that it intends to investigate the incidents on film. A spokeswoman said they would quickly send a team of experts to the sites on the border where the events were filmed. Should it turn out that Croatian officers were involved, she said, they would be held accountable.
NGOs that have spent years working in the border region are certain, however, that the Croatian government completely supports the practices. NGO employees hear horror stories on a regular basis: of dog bites, for example, and electric shocks. Refugees have said in interviews that women have been groped and men have had branches inserted in their anuses. Ana Ćuća, from the Center for Peace Studies in Zagreb, says: "Pushbacks are systematic and not the decision of an individual police officer. It is the policy of the Croatian government."
There is plenty of evidence indicating that Croatian officials have built up a complete infrastructure for conducting the pushbacks. Satellite images show that several new dirt roads have been established in recent years. They lead from Croatian territory to the border with Bosnia-Herzegovina, where they come to an abrupt end. Torn backpacks, baby clothes and sleeping bags are lying around, bearing witness to what regularly takes place at these dead ends.
New dirt road towards Bosnia and Herzegovina. Satellite image: Maxar Technologies Among Bosnian police officers, the violence visited upon the refugees by Croatian units is an open secret. One Bosnian border guard says that on countless occasions, he has encountered injured and bleeding people who had been beaten on the Croatian side of the border. He is certain, he says, that the Intervention Police are responsible. "There have been cases where they have beaten up groups so badly that each of them ended up in the hospital." In winter, he says, he sometimes finds people sitting freezing in the snow. Essentially, the border guard says, it’s torture.
Greece: "Nobody Gets Through" When the Greek coast guard took off, Junior Amba was expecting the worst. He and his pregnant wife, refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo, were left sitting in an orange life raft at night, in the dark waters of the Aegean. Masked men had dragged them out to sea, he says, recalling the story months later.
Hours prior, as dawn broke on April 21, the two had arrived on the Greek island of Samos. Photos and witness reports confirm this part of their story. They had crossed from the nearby Turkish coast on an inflatable raft.
At first, Amba says, they hid from the police in the hills. But he says the security forces quickly found them and brought them back to the sea, together with 26 other asylum-seekers. Amba says he had feared for his life on the wobbly life raft with no motor, adding that the men hadn’t even given them life vests. Only hours later were the asylum seekers rescued by Turkish border guards.
Junior Amba with his wife a child: Abandoned on the dark waters of the Aegean
Bild vergrößern Junior Amba with his wife a child: Abandoned on the dark waters of the Aegean Foto: Julian Busch / DER SPIEGEL Amba and his wife managed to make it to Samos in a further attempt and were able to register at the refugee camp. Amba now has a new goal: He wants to bring to court the men he claims pushed them out to sea. A Greek lawyer has filed a lawsuit on the couple's behalf. One of the accusations: "torture."
In recent months, the Aegean has become a battleground. Fifteen video recordings made by asylum-seekers and the Turkish coast guard show how the violence is escalating. Men wearing balaclavas stab into refugee boats with hooks and fire warning shots into the water. The coast guard pulls refugees on orange life rafts towards Turkey and leaves them at sea, as Amba reported. It is an especially dangerous and perfidious form of pushback. A new low point in European migration policy.
DER SPIEGEL and its research partners have been reporting on the actions for about a year. There is no longer any doubt that the pushbacks are being conducted from Greek coast guard ships, even if the government claims otherwise. But who exactly are these men who, as in Croatia, frequently cover their faces? And who ordered them to do what they are doing?
One of those who should know is sitting in a taverna in a port city on a sunny spring day. We’ll call him Yannis Alexiou. Until recently he worked in a high-ranking position for the Greek coast guard and asked that his real name not be published.
Pushbacks used to be isolated incidents, Alexiou claims. He says the Turkish coast guard would intercept most of the boats as a part of the deal that the European Union signed with Turkey. But in March of 2020, Turkey briefly stopped intercepting refugees. Alexiou says that for this reason, the government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis adopted a tougher line.
Since then, he says, special units and other security forces have been charged with pulling the asylum-seekers back out to sea and abandoning them on life rafts. In the videos shown to him by DER SPIEGEL, he is able to definitively identify the special units.
The units he’s talking about are called MYA and KEA, the coast guard’s elite. The officers wear balaclavas so that nobody can recognize them. Normally they deal with drug dealers, but now they are also pushing refugees back into the sea. "Orders are always oral in these operations," Alexiou says, so there is no paper trail and plausible deniability can be maintained. "The instructions come from way up top, from politicians. These are criminal acts."
Two additional coast guard officers, one of whom is on active duty, have corroborated Alexiou’s claims. And they, too, believe the special units are responsible for the pushbacks. "The order is: Nobody gets through," says one of the officers.
The Greek government has thus far not provided a response to a detailed list of questions sent by DER SPIEGEL. In the past, Athens has always denied the practice.
The presence of the elite units on the Aegean, at least, has been documented on video. In June, refugees and the Turkish coast guard filmed as Greek authorities stopped a group of asylum seekers just off the island of Kos. The letters OEA are visible on at least three of the men. The acronym stands for one of the groups of the elite KEA unit. Turkish coast guards had to later rescue the refugees.
Brussels: Taxpayer Money for Pushbacks Ylva Johansson has been responsible for migration policy at the European Commission since 2019. A Social Democrat from Sweden, she often emphasizes in her speeches that EU member states have the right to protect their borders, but that they still need to abide by EU law.
Thus far, Johansson’s appeals have been largely ignored. In addition to the cases in Greece and Croatia, there have also been reports of pushbacks at the Romanian, Italian and Austrian borders. The Lithuanian government, meanwhile, is pushing to legalize the practice. And in recent weeks, Poland has preferred to let asylum-seekers trapped in the Belarusian border region go hungry rather than allow them to enter.
The systematic pushbacks don’t just endanger the continued existence of the Geneva Convention on Refugees, it is also calling into question the European Union’s claims of adhering to the rule of law. For this reason, Johansson has been pushing for months for a so-called independent monitoring mechanism. According to this plan, organizations from civil society are to monitor the national officials at the EU’s external borders.
European Commissioner Ylva Johansson: "Serious concerns" European Commissioner Ylva Johansson: "Serious concerns" Foto: Olivier Matthys / REUTERS Such a monitoring mechanism is already in place in Croatia. Johansson’s team negotiated for several months before it was implemented. But the mechanism falls short of true independence. The Croatian organizations that are responsible for the monitoring are usually only allowed to perform surveillance if they provide prior notification. Furthermore, at least two of the five authorized organizations receive money from the Croatian government.
When contacted, the European Commission said that the Croatian government is responsible for selecting the organizations that take part in the monitoring mechanism. The implementation of the mechanism in practice, the Commission said in a statement, is extremely important and will be closely monitored. The Commission, according to the statement, is strongly opposed to pushbacks and is "deeply concerned" about the "persistent and increasing reports." The Commission says that it has continuously and clearly expressed that concern to the national agencies and demanded that all allegations be investigated.
The Greek government is far away from conducting any kind of serious investigation. Athens isn’t even interested in implementing Johansson’s monitoring mechanism. Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi says he sees absolutely no reason to do so. When it comes to border protection, he says, there is no need for advice from NGOs.
If the European Commission really wants to put an end to the pushbacks, they could significantly cut funding currently provided to countries like Greece and Croatia for border protection. Thus far, though, it hasn’t managed to do so. In recent years, Brussels has sent more than 422 million euros to Athens and more than 110 million euros to Zagreb for the purpose. The German government has provided infrared cameras and all-terrain vehicles to Croatia. Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has noted that he has "absolutely nothing critical to say" about the work done by Croatia.
And European taxpayers also provide funding for the pushbacks. According to publicly available documents, the EU is paying for the lodging of the officers involved in operation Koridor at "Top-Terme Topusko." Brussels is also covering overtime for border officials along with per diems. Even the quilted jackets worn by the Intervention Police may have been purchased with EU money. There is, at least, a tender for such jackets on the official EU portal. Brussels paid the equivalent of 380,000 euros for them.
Life rafts from the Greek company Lalizas: Crimes at the border, paid for by European citizens Bild vergrößern Life rafts from the Greek company Lalizas: Crimes at the border, paid for by European citizens Foto: Emrah Gurel / AP / dpa The European Commission says it is unaware of legal violations having taken place using equipment financed by Brussels. Should that happen, the Commission says, the payments could be suspended and penalties imposed.
Were that to happen, Greece could also be affected. Many of the orange life rafts used by the Greek special forces to push refugees back out to sea were paid for by the European Union. The Greek company Lalizas won a tender for the rafts back in 2016. According to that tender, each pushback using such a life raft costs European taxpayers 1,590 euros. But the true price is far higher.
Pieter, Kai - there is a buildup of some international Mafia helping people from middle east to migrate illegally to western Europe helped also by se governmental terrorism like Belarus. I agree with Pieter that building a fence can help. What Kai is fractions even more complex. Still, the situation would not be solved until there is much gap.in poverty and safety in the middle east compared do to europe
‘They will not come in’: Mounting standoff over migrants on Poland-Belarus border A Syrian migrant named Anas, 23, carries his belongings on Oct. 29 after crossing into Poland from Belarus. (Kacper Pempel/Reuters) By Loveday Morris and Robyn Dixon
Yesterday at 4:25 p.m. EST
BERLIN — Polish authorities promised Monday to block the entry of hundreds of migrants gathered on its border with Belarus, where the government has been accused of weaponizing refugees against the European Union.
The Polish Ministry of Defense posted an aerial video of a large group of people massed next to the border fence near the Polish village of Kuznica, with Polish guards lined up to face them on the other side. The exact numbers gathered on the border remained unclear: Belarusian border guards said there were about 1,000 people, while Polish authorities said that “numerous” groups had been escorted to the fence by Belarusian forces.
“They will not come in,” Maciej Wasik, Poland’s deputy interior minister, wrote on Twitter, adding that the Polish border guard, police and army were ready to keep them out. “Poland’s state services are prepared for all circumstances,” he said.
Trapped between Poland and Belarus, 32 Afghans — and their cat — have become symbols of Europe’s new border crisis
The E.U. accuses Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of engineering a migrant crisis as a political tool to amp up pressure on Europe as his country faces sanctions following the forced diversion of a Ryanair flight to arrest an opposition journalist in May.
The E.U. is considering a fresh round of sanctions against Belarus. Outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said the measures are intended to punish a “form of human trafficking” being carried out by the state.
The U.S. State Department Monday also condemned what it said was the Belarusian government’s “political exploitation and coercion of vulnerable people” at the border.
“We call on the regime to immediately halt its campaign of orchestrating and coercing irregular migrant flows across its borders into Europe,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said at a briefing.
In June, Lukashenko warned that Belarus would no longer prevent asylum seekers, drugs and even nuclear materials from entering the 27-member bloc. Since then, Iraqis and other nationals hoping to enter Europe have been encouraged to take flights to Minsk and then try their luck crossing into the European Union on foot.
The Guardian wrote that Slavery and prostitution among horrors faced by child refugees and migrants after fivefold increase in number of lone minors crossing borders since 2010-11.
A record increase in the number of refugee and migrant children travelling alone has left many exposed to sexual abuse and exploitation at the hands of traffickers and opportunists. At least 300,000 unaccompanied and separated children were recorded in 80 countries in 2015-16, a rise of almost 500% on the 66,000 documented in 2010-2011, according to a Unicef report published in 2017.
The central Mediterranean passage is one of several migration routes identified as particularly dangerous for children. More than 75% of the 1,600 14- to 17-year-olds who arrived in Italy reported being held against their will or forced to work.
“One child moving alone is one too many and yet, today, there are a staggering number of children doing just that – we as adults are failing to protect them,” said Unicef’s deputy executive director, Justin Forsyth.
“Ruthless smugglers and traffickers are exploiting their vulnerability for personal gain, helping children to cross borders, only to sell them into slavery and forced prostitution. It is unconscionable that we are not adequately defending children from these predators.” The sheer number of migrant and refugee arrivals has left states struggling to cope, with children often falling through the cracks. Border closures, aggressive pushback measures, overcrowded shelters, makeshift camps and heavy-handed authorities have only served to exacerbate the risk of child exploitation, encouraging unaccompanied minors to take highly dangerous routes in a desperate bid to reach their destinations.
One 17-year-old girl from Nigeria told Unicef that she was trapped in Libya for three months and sexually assaulted by her smuggler-turned-trafficker as she attempted to travel alone to Italy. “Everything [he] said – that we would be treated well and that we would be safe – it was all wrong. It was a lie,” she said of the man who offered to help her. “He said to me if I didn’t sleep with him, he would not bring me to Europe. He raped me.” Aimamo, 16, and his twin brother reported having to endure two months of forced labour on a farm in Libya in order to pay off their smugglers, a situation he likened to slavery.
Belarus is a source, destination, and transit country for women, men, and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced prostitution and forced labor. The majority of identified Belarusian victims were females forced into prostitution abroad, including in: Russia, Germany, Poland, other European countries, Turkey, Israel, Lebanon, and the UAE. There were reports that women from low-income families in Belarus’ regions were subjected to forced prostitution in Minsk. Belarusian men, women, and children continued to be subjected to forced begging, as well as forced labor in the construction industry and other sectors in Russia. According to the Ministry of Interior, Belarusian single, unemployed females between the ages of 16 and 30 were most at risk of being trafficked. Human traffickers often used informal social networks to approach potential victims.
The Government of Belarus does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. The government’s response to trafficking is difficult to gauge due to the closed nature of the government, sparse independent reporting, and general fear of government retaliation for criticism of the ruling regime. However, based on available information, the government appeared to have sustained its efforts to prosecute and punish trafficking offenders in 2009. While the government appeared to continue positive steps toward improved treatment of victims and support of the anti-trafficking NGO community, the overall political climate of intimidation was a natural obstacle to authentic government partnerships with victims and anti-trafficking organizations. Funding for victim assistance programs codified into law in 2005 remained unrealized.
The U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons placed Belarus in "Tier 3" in 2017.
Comment Pieter: Friends, if this could happen to Belarussian girls and women it can happen to Iraqi, Syrian, Afghan and African children, girls and women as well. Both in the hands of Ukrainian and Arab or Turkish organized crime or criminals from Western-Europe.