Palestinian Refugees Stranded on Polish Border Launch Distress Signals

Palestinian Refugees Stranded on Polish Border Launch Distress Signals

A migrant woman gestures to a Polish border guard. Attempts to deliver food, water and medicines from the Polish side have been blocked. (Photo: AFP via Getty Images)

Palestinian refugees, including those who fled war-torn Syria, have been subjected to dire humanitarian conditions on the Polish borders, according to human rights sources.

Speaking with the Action Group for Palestinians of Syria, a number of migrants said dozens of Palestinian refugees, among them women, have been trapped near Poland and left without roofs over their heads under extremely cold weather conditions. Neither food nor water are available in the area.

Polish border guards arrested scores of migrants who attempted to cross the border. People caught by authorities are subjected to heavy beating and intensive search before they are locked up in isolated locations and get robbed of their mobile phones and property. They are ultimately pushed to the Belorussian borders.

Over recent months, hundreds of people from places like Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and Africa have been trying to cross the border illegally every day. Poland has declared a state of emergency in the region and plans to build a wall on the border.

The Polish parliament has also passed legislation that human rights advocates say aims to legalise pushbacks of migrants across its borders in breach of the country’s commitments under international law.

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