I should have written this post long ago because now, I cannot avoid the long shadow of the Ukraine war. Refugees from the war have been flowing into Poland. From what my wife tells me, more than four million people have been allowed to enter Poland, a fantastic humanitarian response.
However, a few hundred miles north of the border with Ukraine, another set of refugees have been trapped in the forests on the border of Poland and Belarus for more than six months now. Their number is in the low thousands, almost nothing compared to the Ukrainians south of them. However, they have not been treated so kindly.
Last October and November (much before the Ukraine war), I went to two protests about this issue.
The first protest was in the border town of Michalowo. It was getting colder in the forest every day, and the goal of this protest was to push the government to allow humanitarian organisations access to the forest so that they could help.
I learned from talking to the other protesters that the refugees had become pawns in a crazy political situation. They told me that tourist organisations sponsored by the Belarus government were flying people into Belarus and then trapping them in the forest at the Polish border.
Note: The EU has accused Belarus of facilitating a route for migrants to cross its frontiers into neighbouring EU states in response to sanctions against President Alexander Lukashenko's crackdown on opposition and dissent. Poland is now building a 180 km wall, which is almost complete at the time of writing this.
Poland had closed its borders and was not letting anyone into Poland. Not only that, but they were not allowing humanitarian organisations to go into the so-called buffer zone to help. Of course, Belarus wouldn't even let them leave the border zone, let alone go back to their own country.Â
The small town of Michalowo was doing its best to help. They were collecting clothes, sleeping bags, winter equipment, and more. Since the buffer zone was closed off to the public, activists distributed these materials undercover to any refugees they could find. For the refugees who managed to sneak through into Michalowo, the town would get them medical help, but then the army would push them back to the border, only to get stuck again. This kind of pushback without proper review is illegal, according to the UNHCR, but the Polish government didn’t care.
The second protest was in the bigger city of Bialystok, where a photographer was sharing photos and stories from her time in the forest. She tearfully spoke about families with young kids who had been "pushed back" multiple times, refugees who even wanted to go home but couldn't because Belarus wouldn't let them. The city council spoke out in favour of helping more. The mayor of Michalowo spoke and said how difficult it was to see people being pushed back again and again.
At the time of the protest: winter was beginning, and it would only get colder in the forest where these people were trapped.
"I can't even imagine how it must be to be trapped in the cold like this", Ania told me.
"I can," I said, thinking back to my time in Tajikistan. I cycled for three days in the cold, unprepared and freezing. But for me, it was an adventure that would surely end in a warm room. For these people, there was only uncertainty.
Update: The above was written six months ago. People are still trapped in the forest. Many have died. Poland has almost finished the construction of a 180km wall to block further attempts.
Factual without added emotions. Good. Any specific reason for delaying the post?
Depressing, true and vivid. Thank you for sharing this.