Poland limits access to Belarus border as migrant crisis grows

Poland may limit access by NGOs and journalists to its border with Belarus after lawmakers rejected amendments to a law that will go into effect when the state of emergency ends due to the increase in migrants trying to cross the border.

Under the state of emergency declared in the border region in September, the media and charities were banned. The opposition said the ban was intended to cover up rights abuses and sought unrestricted access.

Under the new rules, the Interior Minister will be able to implement limits on access to the border zone after consulting the head of the Border Guard. However, journalists and NGOs can enter at the discretion of the heads of the local Border Guard.

The state of emergency, which lasted for a maximum of three months, ends soon. The government said the restrictions were necessary for security reasons and to prevent any escalation of stalemate, the regional powers said there was a risk of military conflict.

The European Union accuses Minsk of engineering the migrant crisis to react to sanctions. Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko accuses the EU of deliberately provoking a humanitarian crisis.

On Friday, the upper house of parliament, the Senate, voted in favor of amendments that would allow journalists and aid workers unlimited access to the exclusion zone near the border, but were rejected by the lower house.

Poland’s Human Rights Ombudsman has criticized the new law, saying it gives the interior minister the right to limit freedom of movement and to limit access to information about what happens at the border indefinitely.

Although the situation at the border has calmed since mid-November, when Polish security forces fired water cannons at migrants throwing stones, there are still nightly attempts by groups to force the barbed wire fence at the border.

The Polish Border Guard said there were 134 attempts to cross the border into Belarus on Monday (29).