Authorities in Poland have recently revealed that the country facilitated approximately 6,000 returns between July 2023 and January 2024, marking the first time such information was made public.
Such data shed light on a controversial practice implemented by the former Law and Justice (PiS) government in August 2021 in response to increased efforts at border crossings from Belarus, mainly by individuals from the Middle East, Asia and Africa.
Border authorities did not keep specific data during the above-mentioned period and instead categorised such incidents under the broader label of “prevented border crossings”. As Notes from Poland explains, government figures show that in 2021, Polish border guards prevented 33,781 attempted border crossings, followed by 12,157 in 2022. The difference in returns as a separate category appeared only on July 5, 2023.
Responding to questions from the left-wing Razem party, Poland’s Interior Ministry revealed that between that date and January 16, 2024, there were 6,070 documented cases of pushbacks.
Moreover, Deputy Interior Minister Maciej Duszczyk, a member of the newly installed government that succeeded PiS in mid-December 2023, highlighted a significant drop in refusals during the administration’s tenure, Info Migrants notes.
From December 13, 2023, to January 3, 2024, there was a noticeable decrease of 81 per cent of individuals who were subject to decisions forcing their departure from Polish territory compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.
In a collective effort to address the ongoing issue of systematic delays along Poland’s borders, last month, a petition was submitted to Prime Minister Donald Tusk by 101 non-governmental organisations, including members of the European Council for Refugees and Emigrants (ECRE).
The petition called on the Polish prime minister to take decisive action to stop what it described as “gross violations of migrants’ rights” taking place along the Polish-Belarusian border. The findings provided by the Polish border guard have highlighted the ineffectiveness of the border wall built between Belarus and Poland, as it failed to prevent over 60 per cent of irregular crossings into Poland.
Furthermore, the statistics underline the severity of the situation. Despite the border wall, more than 30,000 individuals successfully made their way to Poland from Belarus during the first nine months of last year. Alarmingly, a significant number of these migrants – reportedly at least 13,000 – then used Poland as a transit route to reach Germany.
The report also sheds light on enforcement efforts, showing that from January to September of the same year, Polish authorities arrested a total of 17,488 individuals from Belarus who attempted to enter Poland irregularly.
