[ad_1]
By Kacper Pempel
USNARZ GORNY, Poland (Reuters) -Poland will construct a fence alongside its border with Belarus and double the variety of troops there, the defence minister mentioned on Monday, to halt a circulation of migrants the European Union says is being pushed by Minsk in retaliation for EU sanctions.
Poland and fellow EU states Lithuania and Latvia have reported sharp will increase in migrants from nations comparable to Iraq and Afghanistan making an attempt to cross their borders. The EU says Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is waging “hybrid warfare” with migrants to exert strain on the bloc.
Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak mentioned {that a} new 2.5-metre-(8.2-foot)-high stable fence can be constructed on the border with Belarus.
At a press convention on the border Blaszczak additionally mentioned the navy presence there can be elevated.
“It’s mandatory to extend the variety of troopers. … We are going to quickly double the variety of troopers to 2,000,” he mentioned.
Poland’s authorities has come below sharp criticism from human rights advocates over the plight of a gaggle of migrants trapped for 2 weeks within the open between Polish and Belarusian border guards close to the village of Usnarz Gorny.
Poland says permitting the migrants to enter Polish territory would encourage additional unlawful migration and would additionally play into Lukashenko’s palms. “These usually are not refugees, they’re financial migrants introduced in by the Belarusian authorities,” Deputy International Minister Marcin Przydacz informed reporters.
INHUMANE
Some legal professionals and NGOs accuse Warsaw of treating the stranded migrants inhumanely by blocking their entry.
The Polish Human Rights Ombudsman mentioned the Border Guard had violated the Geneva Conference by not accepting verbal declarations from among the migrants that they needed to use for worldwide safety in Poland.
“Individuals have been asking the border guards for defense and the border guards have been pushing them again,” mentioned Piotr Bystrianin from the Ocalenie Basis, which helps refugees.
“Meaning they have been involved and which means they need to give them the chance to use for defense. … It is extremely easy.”
Mahdieh Gholami, a translator serving to the Ocalenie Basis, mentioned that Polish troops have been hampering her efforts to speak with the migrants simply throughout the border.
“After I begin to say one thing the troopers activate engines,” she mentioned.
The Polish Border Guard and the military didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
Lithuania mentioned on Monday it will full a 508-km (315-mile) fence alongside its border with Belarus by September subsequent 12 months.
(Reporting by Kacper Pempel, Alan Charlish, Alicja Ptak and Pawel Florkiewicz; enhancing by Mark Heinrich and Mark Porter)
[ad_2]
Source link
