R1 Post-CAS: End the Death Zone: Against the Inhumane Treatment of Asylum Seekers on the Belarusian Border

Human and migrant rights are under attack in Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and
Belarus. The illegitimate former president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko is
using migrants and asylum seekers from the Middle East as hybrid war weapons
against Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Europe as a whole.

The regime in Belarus explicitly attacks the Baltic States due to their support
for the democratic opposition. This weaponization of human lives is another
disgusting attack against human rights by the illegitimate Belarusian regime,
which for years has attacked activists that are against Lukashenko’s
dictatorship.
Disturbingly, the response by the Latvian, Polish, and Lithuanian governments is
just as inhumane as Lukashenko had planned and expected. The migrants are forced
to stay in the border zone for months without shelter. There are many reports of
violence against migrants by border guards on both sides. More people have died
on the Polish-Belarusian border in less than two years than people trying to
cross the border that used to split Germany during the Cold War.

Unfortunately, it is very hard to understand the situation fully, as governments
are not letting activists and journalists reach the border zone due to the state
of emergency. The Latvian government started an investigation against an NGO
called I Want to Help Refugees for providing humanitarian help to the migrants
stuck on the border. The Polish government first abused the legal possibilities
by introducing a state of emergency on the border and then attacked independent
organizations, media, and activists by creating strategic lawsuits against their
participation and providing help, as well as using public media to spread their
political propaganda about this situation. The Lithuanian border guard started
an investigation against an NGO for assisting migrants on the border on
assumption that this is a case of people smuggling. These all are clear breaches
of democratic principles by these governments.

Right-wing and far-right parties have used this crisis to continue their anti-
migrant policy and increase the dehumanization of migrants and refugees.
This is explicitly noticeable during the election period. Latvia, Lithuania, and
Poland are now building expensive border walls, which are causing huge
environmental risks. The fear and increasing dehumanization have moved the focus
away from the victims through this shameless power play to the exaggerated idea
of safety risks.

Nothing – even the tallest and strongest wall – can stop a person who
desperately seeks asylum or a better future. But the cruelty and breaking of all
the rights performed by these governments clearly show us the consequences of
cynical political play that ignores the importance of human life.

Activists and local societies are doing their best to help families find their
loved ones that went missing on the border. They are their only hope. Replacing
the government services and risking their own lives, they fight to restore
dignity and an elementary sense of humanity and safety to migrants and refugees.

The Federation of Young European Greens calls for an immediate end to the
inhumane treatment of migrants and refugees by the Belarusian regime and
governments of Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. FYEG stands in solidarity with all
those affected by this crisis and will continue to work towards a world where
the rights and dignity of all people, regardless of their background or status,
are respected and protected.

We ask the European Union:

To put pressure on the Baltic states to respect the European Convention on Human
Rights;

To stop criminalising solidarity actors and people on the move, and guarantee
access to the border zone to solidarity actors to help with humanitarian aid;

To stop countries using state of emergency acts to violate Human Rights.