On October 7, Łarysa Bielska spoke at the 76th session of the Executive Council of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. She spoke, among other things: about the dramatic situation on the western borders of Belarus. She recalled that over the last four years, Belarusian law enforcement authorities documented the deaths of over 80 people displaced by the actions of security forces, including: Polish. The content of Bielska's speech was published on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus.
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Representative of Belarus: our western neighbors refuse to dialogue
The migration crisis on the border of Belarus with the European Union has been ongoing since spring 2021. It began when the Belarusian regime has opened channels for the transfer of migrants among others from African or Middle Eastern countries across the border with the EU to the territory of Lithuania, Poland and Latvia. The authorities of these three countries believe that the difficult situation resulting from this decision is an element of a hybrid war initiated by the regimes in Minsk and Moscow. Belarus, in turn, claims that its western neighbors violate human rights and are not willing to cooperate and compromise.
In her speech, Łarysa Bielska mentioned the “catastrophic consequences” that – in her opinion – chaos in matters regarding the flow of refugees and lack of cooperation between individual countries may have. She emphasized that Belarus has been experiencing these effects for several years.
“Our western neighbors refuse to engage in dialogue and cooperation, unilaterally blocking long-term engagement with Belarus and a coordinated joint response to the influx of migrants and refugees,” she said at the UN. She added that the countries bordering Belarus to the west (Poland, Lithuania, Latvia) “are building fences and practicing brutal, forceful expulsion of internally displaced persons and potential asylum seekers.”
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In her opinion, Belarus is baselessly accused of treating refugees objectively and arming refugees for provocative purposes.
— Over the last four years, Belarusian law enforcement authorities have documented over 80 deaths of internally displaced people as a result of brutal actions of security forces in our western neighbors. Belarus appeals to UNHCR [Wysoki Komisarz ONZ ds. Uchodźców] to pay more attention to this problem, analyze violations and help prevent them – concluded Łarysa Bielska.
