Migration crisis in Belarus: how the candidates for exile found themselves trapped

For several months, thousands of migrants have gathered at the Belarusian borders with Poland, Lithuania and Latvia. A crisis that is causing great concern within the European Union, especially on the Polish border, where the government has deployed the army to prevent any passage.

For the EU, this crisis is no accident. It comes against a backdrop of a marked deterioration in relations between Belarus and Brussels, which recently imposed heavy sanctions against the regime of Alexander Lukashenko. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Monday called on member states to approve new punitive measures against Minsk, which she accuses of using migrants to carry out a “hybrid attack“against Europe. Decryption.

From Lithuania to Poland

On July 3, 2021, Lithuania, faced with a massive increase in the number of illegal entries into its territory via the Belarusian border, declares a state of emergency. According to official statistics, more than 4,200 illegal entries have been recorded to date in the country since the beginning of the year 2021 against only 74 in 2020.

“It was in July that we observed a massive and sudden increase in Lithuania,” explains Elisabeth Arnsdorf Haslund, spokesperson for the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in the region, contacted by France 24. ” The vast majority of the arrivals were Iraqis, some were trying to join family members already in Europe.These were extremely heterogeneous groups, men, women, children, sometimes unaccompanied, people with disabilities … These massive arrivals put extreme pressure on the asylum system, as the country was absolutely unprepared for such a situation. “

If Lithuania quickly implemented drastic measures to tighten entry procedures, the crisis has spread to other European borders of Belarus, with Latvia and especially with Poland. According to the Latvian authorities, 400 people, including 200 on the day of August 10 alone, have managed to cross the border illegally, while the spokesman for the Polish government estimates that between 3,000 and 4,000 migrants are currently massed near its border, on the Belarusian side.

“We will not hold anybody”

At the start of the crisis, when the Lithuanian authorities were trying somehow to curb the influx of migrants, the government accused Belarus of using migrants as a weapon to put pressure on the European Union. Because over the past two years, Brussels has imposed several series of sanctions against the regime of Alexander Lukashenko, following the bloody repression of the post-electoral protest movement in 2020, then the spectacular hijacking of the Ryanair flight in European skies for arrest an opponent last May.

>> To read also: Arrest of Roman Protassevich: Belarus declares war on the opposition in exile

Faced with the accusations of Lithuania, the Belarusian president kicked in touch, preferring to ironize on the migratory crisis in the making which threatens his neighbors: “We will not hold anybody. We are not their final destination, after all. They are heading towards it. ‘Europe of Enlightenment, welcoming and warm “, he declared on July 6 at a government meeting.

Belarus insists that migrants arrive legally on its territory and simply claims to act “in a hospitable country”. But for the French Secretary of State for European Affairs, Clément Beaune, it is, on the contrary, “organized human trafficking by the Lukashenko family (…) with commercial flights and organized tours”.

Migrants “oriented” at the borders

At the start of the summer, the increase in the frequency of flights to Belarus from several countries in the Middle East, and in particular Iraq, as well as the numerous allocations of tourist visas aroused suspicion from Brussels. . Under pressure from European leaders, the Iraqi government agreed in August to suspend direct flights between Baghdad and Minsk, to prevent citizens from being “exploited by criminal networks”, in the words of the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell.

“On site, the people we spoke to told us that they had benefited from visa facilities and had arrived legally in Belarus,” explains Maëva Poulet, journalist for France 24 Observers. who followed a humanitarian organization to the Polish border. “Some say they arrived by means of formulas including the plane ticket, a few days in a hotel and then the transport to the border. Some even told us that they had been directed to the crossing points by the Belarusian security forces.”

Moussa, 25, also tried the adventure. “In 2019, I had to leave the Democratic Republic of the Congo for security reasons. The only way to leave was then to obtain a student visa for Belarus, for a fee: 900 dollars for the application fee, then 3,500 dollars on site for tuition and accommodation “, explains the young man to France 24.

“But over the past year, conditions have deteriorated,” he continues. . For the authorities, it’s a business. We just have the right to pay to be there, but we are forbidden to work in the country. There is no future in Belarus. “

When he applied for university, Moussa did not have a choice of location: he was imposed that of Grosno, a public establishment located in the far west of the country, barely 20 km from the Polish border. and 30 km from Lithuania.

A worsening humanitarian crisis

With the onset of winter, the Polish border, which has become the epicenter of the migration crisis in Europe, crystallizes concerns. At least 10 people have already died in this forest area where several thousand asylum seekers are stranded. While the Polish government has deployed hundreds of soldiers, claims its right to defend the integrity of its territory and has declared a state of emergency in 183 localities, NGOs are warning of the risk of violent outbursts.

The situation is also creating tensions within Europe, Ursula von der Leyen having declared that the EU was not intended to finance “barbed wire and walls”, in reference to the anti-migrant wall recently approved by parliament Polish.

If the crisis at the Lithuanian and Latvian borders has subsided, the situation of migrants in these areas is far from being resolved, warns the UNHCR. “Lithuania has certainly succeeded in regulating entries by limiting the possibility of making asylum requests to a few defined crossing points, but with this measure, the government is running the risk of leaving a large number of migrants wandering, in the forest, without the possibility of assistance “, underlines the spokesperson for the UN agency, Elisabeth Arnsdorf Haslund.

“In addition, the accommodation conditions for asylum seekers also remain difficult, in centers that are sometimes unsuitable, while the weather conditions add to the frustration.”

A situation currently facing Moussa, the former student of Grosno, who joined Lithuania in July. “For five months, I have been waiting for my situation to be examined, but I have the impression that they are not regularizing anyone here,” laments the young man, who claims to have been brutalized on several occasions by the Lithuanian security forces.

“I am in detention in a camp near the border. They are in fact containers; I share one with three other people. States are passing the buck for the migration crisis, but their conflicts have nothing to do with it. to do with my situation. I just want to live in peace and security. So far my life in Europe is no better than my experience in Belarus. “