Humanitarian crisis at the Polish-Belarusian border (report by Grupa Granica)
The humanitarian crisis that we have been witnessing for the past three months on the Polish-Belarusian border (as well as on Belarus’ borders with Latvia and Lithuania) is unpreced-ented in Europe. No country has ever attempted what is people smuggling on such a large scale. Orchestrating migration has become the Belarusian regime’s tool to inflict vengeance on the European Union — including on Poland — for their political decisions. We wish to emphasise that what is happening on the border between Poland and Belarus is not amigration crisis. The situation was not caused by any war, natural disaster or a sudden power shift within a region. People were brought to the border area by the Belarusian regime precisely to cause confusion and to generate polarisation and conflict within the Polish society. From this perspective, we can say that Alexander Lukashenko has achieved his goal — the Poles have never been so divided. However, it is emphatically not a migration crisis — such crises usually involve millions of people. Afewthousand people brought to the Polish border roughly correspond to two fully booked auditoriums of a large theatre — or the VIP seats of the National Sports Stadium. Meeting the needs of these people certainly does not exceed the possibilities and resources of our country.
Grupa Granica(GG) is a social movement that opposes how authorities have responded to the events on the Polish-Be-larusian border. We assist forced migrants who find themselves on the Polish territory and monitor human rights violations. The movement includes activists from all over Poland, including residents of border areas, and a growing group of NGOs. At present, organisations that cooperate closely with in GG include: Nomada Stowarzyszenie, Stowarzyszenie Interwencji Prawnej, HomoFaber, Polskie Forum Migracyjne, Helsińska Fundacja Praw Człowieka, Salam Lab, Dom Otwarty, Centrum Pomocy Prawnej im. Haliny Nieć, CHLEBEM i SOLĄ,uchodźcy.info, RATS Agency, Kuchnia Konfliktu, Strefa Wolno Słowaand Przystanek „Świetlica”dla dzieci uchodźców. We work together to make the best and most effective use of our limited resources. The activities of Grupa Granica mostly rely on voluntary work by activists. Individual expenses related to providing aid to migrants (e.g. purchase of food, clothing, rescue packages, special equipment, costs of rescue teams provisions, legal aid, etc.) were met through public fundraisers organised by GG with funds transferred to the accounts of individual NGOs, e.g. as part of the fundraising campaign by Gazeta Wyborczawhich contribute dpart of its subscription revenue, the fund sprovided by the Civic Fund (Fundusz Obywatelski), which was first to support our educational activities in Podlasie and Lubelskie regions in August and September 2021, and from the funds generously provided by Stefan Batory Foundation. Our work would not have been possible without the generous support of the Polish people. Thous and sof people were involved in organising direct aid: collecting and delivering warm clothes, food and first aid kits and provisions, which we were then able to provide to those in need. We received all kinds of support: breast milk offered by a Polish mother to a migrant mother’s newborn child, bags of coffee for activists, pallets of mineral water, soupinjars, warmjackets, smart phone sandpower-banks, and great support in logistics and coordination of our work.
