Migration crisis on the Belarus-Poland border

Thousands of migrants have been arriving to the Belarusian border since July 2021. As at 13 November, an estimated 20,000 migrants and asylum seekers are present in Belarus. At least 5,000 people are stuck on the Poland-Belarus border without adequate access to services or assistance. Migrants and asylum seekers (mainly from Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria) intending to cross into the EU have arrived in Belarus since late July. Some have been stranded in the border areas for weeks because of ‘pushback’ policies by Polish border control and coercion by Belarusian officials to cross again.