Refugees and migrants from Africa and the Middle East are still trying to enter the EU via Belarus. There they meet life-threatening living conditions in the forest, and systematic deportations. Aid organizations fear the loss of human lives in what they call a forgotten crisis.
– I still struggle to sleep, says Senegalese “John” to Nettavisen.
We meet him in the courtyard of the refugee center in Bialystok, in eastern Poland. “John” does not want to be portrayed, nor does he want his real name in print. He is afraid that this will damage the asylum process.
It’s a beautiful, sunny spring day in the Polish city – but “John” has a serious, vigilant look as he tells how he ended up here.
Read all about the war in our Ukraine studio here.
Fateful choice
– We left Senegal three years ago – me and my two brothers, he starts.
They struggled to find work in their home country, and wanted to try to find a new and better life as students in Russia. After a couple of years, they still understood that there was little opportunity for a lasting life there – due to difficulties in obtaining a permanent residence permit, and racism.
– So we heard that we could travel via Belarus to Poland. Several friends had managed to get to Germany, and we knew several who were on their way.
January this year, they decided to leave. The choice was to be fatal for “John” and the brothers.
Like many others, they met only a well-guarded border, and an inhospitable forest. They went away and ran out of food. The clothes were soft, and the freezing temperatures crept in every night. Eventually the load became too great.
– Both my brothers died out there in the woods, says “John”, who still goes to a psychologist – three months after he was found in the woods.
He is still waiting for an answer to his asylum application.
– I hope to be able to continue my studies here in Poland, and eventually get on with life, he says, before he walks in the doors to the center.
Hybrid attacks and violations of international law
“John” is just one of many thousands who have so far tried to reach the EU via the border between Belarus and Poland – a refugee route that had the eyes of the world turned towards it towards the end of 2021.
Belarus was accused of offering facilitated package tours and tourist visas to people from the Middle East and Africa, and Poland considered the influx of people as an attack on hybrid warfare from Belarus.
Poland, for its part, was criticized for systematic deportations and for failing to provide international protection for asylum seekers.
The online newspaper then met several refugees and migrants who could tell about repeated meetings with Polish border guards, and that they were repeatedly deported back to Belarus, without the opportunity to apply for asylum.
Between deportations, they tried to navigate through a cluttered forest, which ended up claiming dozens of lives when the crisis was at its worst. Among other things, the brothers of “John”.
Those who were too ill or injured to be deported – and families with young children – were among the selected who were offered asylum.
The stories from the border between Poland and Belarus are in stark contrast to the situation that is now unfolding further south – along the border between Poland and Ukraine. Since the start of the Russian invasion, Poland has received over two million Ukrainians on the run, and Poles around the country are opening their doors to people in need.
Hidden crisis
Carina – one of the managers of the refugee center in Bialystok – can tell that the center now only houses a few Ukrainian families, as well as “John” from Senegal.
– Until yesterday, we also had an Iraqi family, where the son was lame. But they traveled on to Germany. There are fewer people coming here now than, for example, in November last year.
The online newspaper visited the same center in the autumn of 2021, and then the bedrooms and the courtyard were full of families with small children and others who had had health problems during the trip.
At the sight of the empty courtyard, it is easy to regard the situation as less precarious now.
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But below the surface, the crisis is getting worse than ever, describes Kalina Czwarnog, a spokeswoman for Fundacja Ocalenie – an aid organization that has been working on the border since the start of the crisis.
– During the winter, there were absolutely fewer people who tried to cross the border. Then there were also mostly young men. But now that the weather is getting warmer, we see that more people are flocking – also children, women and families, says Czwarnog.
She herself was recently on a field mission at the border outside Sokalka, and she was surprised at how many families needed help in the forests.
– We had 8 rescue missions in 3 days. All were large groups from Iraq and Sudan. The number of refugees is starting to resemble the levels from October and November last year.
In addition, the guards and soldiers at the border have become more professional, she says.
– They have more equipment and better training, so they catch more people than before. They have drones with heat-seeking cameras, which can see the refugees on the ground.
Do not want asylum
Almost 4,000 migrants and refugees have been caught at the border so far this year, says a spokesman for the Polish border guard – Lt. Anna Michalska.
– It goes up and down, but only yesterday we registered 200 attempts at illegal crossings.
She believes there is a big difference between the refugees from Ukraine and those who take over from Belarus.
– Those who come from Ukraine are actually fleeing a war, and they are grateful to come to a safe country.
The second influx of people is considered a hybrid attack from Belarus, she points out.
– Belarus offers tourist visas, and the soldiers help the migrants cross the border and cut up the fence. In addition, they do not want to stay in Poland. Almost everyone tells the border guards that they want to move on to Germany.
Michalska claims that everyone at the border is offered to apply for asylum.
Of the 3,500, only 250 wanted to apply, says Michalska.
Wise not to apply
Kalina Czwarnog of Fundacja Ocalenie laughs out loud when she hears this statement.
– Of course she says so. But in reality, many are deported without the opportunity to apply.
The organization recently had contact with a refugee who was granted asylum, but who later chose to withdraw his application due to misinformation from the border guards.
– The border guard had told him that if he applied, he would have to stay in a reception center for 18 months. This is a lie, Czwarnog believes.
The online newspaper has also had contact with a man who has recently tried to cross the border twice. Both times he was denied the opportunity to apply for asylum, he claims.
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Hawar’s story begins in Kurdistan, October 2021.
– Kurdistan and Iraq are not a good place to live, especially for younger people. “I had political problems, and I felt I had to leave my homeland,” Hawar said by telephone from a secret hiding place in Belarus.
– I would go to any country where I could stay. I just want a quiet and simple life.
Like many others in Iraq, he heard about the route that went via Belarus with a tourist visa. He traveled to Minsk, making his first attempt to cross the border in November 2021.
Patients on the run
On the way, he met another Kurdish family with three daughters. Two of them have a congenital, hereditary condition called Maroteaux-Lamy’s disease, he says.
The disease currently has no cure, and patients require regular treatment to avoid complications.
– We are not related, but I look at them as a family now. We have been together since the beginning, and I will stay with them until they are safe.
The first attempt was over after only 30 minutes. Then they were discovered by Polish border guards, who took them to a police station, Hawar says.
– They searched our bags and all the belongings, before they forced us to sign some documents that we did not understand.
They were given a night at the police station, before being taken back to the Belarusian border the next day.
The experience was a deterrent for Hawar and his family. And by this time, Belarus had just set up a temporary hostel in a department store near the border. The party stayed there for 4 months – until March this year.
Die in no man’s land
– We heard terrible stories when we were in the department store. A Kurdish man had died in the border area, and the guards had not done anything, Hawar claims.
– I have heard of a total of 15 people who have died there in no man’s land. Nobody knows about them – they are neither in Poland nor in Belarus. The family misses them and no one knows where they are.
In March this year, the entourage wanted to make another attempt. They crossed the border around midnight, but were captured again the next day. At the police station, they were this time promised a stay at a refugee center in Poland, but when the car door opened after a short drive, they were left at the border.
– They pushed an older man out of the car so he fell, Hawar recalls.
He perceived the Polish guards as angry, and that they threatened violence if the entourage did not do as they said.
On the Belarusian side, they were also refused to leave the border area.
Hawar and his family were now stranded in the middle between two countries, with no opportunity to travel anywhere. Both sides were guarded by armed soldiers.
– We were in a very difficult situation. It was snowing and it was cold. We warmed ourselves with open flames, and got constant smoke in our eyes and lungs.
It was especially bad for the children, Hawar says.
– The children cried, and they cried even more. They cried constantly.
The entourage eventually ran out of both food and drink. The Polish guards refused to help, even when the family begged for help.
When conditions were at their worst, something happened that Hawar will never forget.
– We were soft and cold, and the children were really in pain. The guards just laughed at us when they saw how bad we were. I will never forget that.
After eight days in the border area, the Belarusian guards gained sympathy for Hawar and his family. They were then allowed to return to Minsk, where they are still in hiding from the authorities. The visas have expired.
Hawar draws a comparison to the reception of Ukrainian refugees.
– We were deeply hurt when we saw that Europe views us and Ukrainian refugees differently. Our country was destroyed by war, and political and social problems, and people have been killed for several years, he says.
“We feel the suffering of the Ukrainian people, but the European countries have done a bad job against us by making a difference to us,” Hawar said.
Local helper
Activist Gosia Tokarska agrees with Hawar.
The online newspaper meets her in the forest outside Hajnowka, which is a few kilometers from the Belarusian border. The forest was an important transit year for the many migrants and refugees who crossed the border last autumn.
– We still hear about people fleeing through the forest, even though there are fewer now. Last week, they closed another department store in Belarus, and then a big wave came. We heard helicopters all night.
She shivers and has her hands in her pockets. We are on a short walk among the trees, but those in transit must survive in the cold forest for several days.
Gosia and her family live right by the border, in the militarized exception zone where aid organizations and journalists are denied entry. When the crisis was at its worst, Gosia took action to help the people in need. Together with the activist group Grupo Granica, she moved out almost daily to those trapped in the forest – to give out clothes, food, water, and other things that were needed. Once she also saved the life of an Syrian who lay in the swamp with broken ribs.
It’s still a long time since she helped anyone.
– There are fewer who openly need help. Several are caught by the guards at the border. But of course we hear about people in transit. Just last week we heard about someone who had died in the woods. It does not appear in the media, but we hear about it because we are so close. It is as if the crisis has been forgotten, but it still exists.
She is visibly annoyed when she talks about the differential treatment between Ukrainians and those coming from the Middle East and Africa.
– Of course we sympathize with the Ukrainians – with all our heart – but I can not help but get angry when I see how the border guards help Ukrainians to push prams and carry luggage, while up here people are treated like animals.
– It is as if people are worth less because they have a different skin color, she says, and turns towards the deep, desolate forest.
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