The Polish Government have introduced a bill that, if passed, would allow the government to temporarily suspend the right to asylum at Poland’s border with Belarus. The bill would permit the Polish Government to suspend the right to seek asylum for a period of up to 60 days along specific sections of its border, with extensions beyond this period being authorised parliamentary approval. Exemptions would be made for vulnerable people, including unaccompanied children, pregnant women and those who require special treatment due to their age or health, Belarus citizens or anyone who could “unequivocally prove they are at risk of suffering serious harm” if returned to Belarus.
The Polish Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights said that the draft bill is inconsistent with the Polish Constitution and it cements a pattern of unlawful ‘pushbacks’. The draft bill would also violate the binding obligation on EU member states under the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU to ensure the right to asylum.
In obvervation on the bill, the UN Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) stressed that the non-refoulement obligation applies in “all situations of people on the move” including “in the context of ‘instrumentalisation’ or the so-called ‘weaponisation’ of migrants and refugees and requires Poland to ensure access to asylum procedures.
Click here to read the Draft Bill
Click here to read the UNCHR Observation on the Bill
Click here to read the Polish Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights Statement