Trapped, Pushed Back and Tortured: Poland’s Crackdown on Refugees at Europe’s Border

A new report, detailing the frightening and sometimes deadly journeys of people trying to reach safety in Europe, has been published today by Egala and Oxfam. Survivors’ testimonies reveal the violence inflicted by both Polish and Belarussian authorities on people seeking asylum as well as the treacherous conditions people face in crossing the swamplands of the primeval Bialowieza forest.

The report, “Brutal Barriers”, documents abuses by the Polish authorities including shooting people with rubber bullets, setting dogs on them and giving them water laced with pepper spray. There are accounts of people being detained without food or water, having their clothes confiscated and being forced to strip naked.

Polish authorities have also forcibly pushed back people, including those in need of urgent medical care. This has included reported pushbacks of people who are unconscious or immobile, and even a case of a pregnant woman being pushed back who subsequently suffered a miscarriage. Some have even reportedly been forcibly returned while receiving medical care in hospital.

Aleksandra Gulińska, Egala Advocacy Lead, said: “Pushbacks at the Poland-Belarus border are systemic. We continuously come across people in the forest who have been pushed back to Belarus by Polish authorities who have created a ‘death zone’ at Europe’s border.

“People are trapped in the forest for weeks or months, without food or water, and exposed to extreme weather with temperatures plummeting to minus twenty in the winter.”

Accounts from those forcibly pushed back to Belarus paint a bleak picture of what is awaiting them on the Belarusian side of the border. Survivors describe the conditions as ‘hell’ with reports of violence, including sexual violence, robberies, and in some of the most extreme cases torture - from electrocution to waterboarding to cutting off body parts.

Sarah Redd, Oxfam Ukraine Advocacy Lead, said: “This is the ‘hell’ Poland is sending people back to and it’s sponsored by the EU.”

Local organisations and volunteers face increasing harassment and criminalization. Last year, Poland declared parts of the border an exclusion zone, making it harder for organisations like Egala to provide life-saving assistance. Aid workers are forced to choose between helping people in need and the criminalization or harassment of their staff and volunteers.

Gulińska said: “We are among the very few who witness firsthand the hellish experience of people trying to seek safety are facing. It’s terrifying to think about what would happen if there were no-one to help them.”

The report also documents instances where the Polish authorities forced people into signing papers renouncing their intention to seek asylum through intimidation and physical violence.

These reports of pushbacks are all part of Poland’s systemized pushback policy. The latest move being to temporarily block people’s rights to claim asylum at its borders. With concerns around escalation in Ukraine, European security sits at the top of the agenda, but European leaders must ensure that these efforts do not include violations of fundamental human rights, as aid groups are seeing at the Poland-Belarus border.

Sarah Redd said: “Poland has abandoned its commitments to rule of law and protecting people fleeing war and persecution. It has instead replaced EU law with razor wire, torture and violence, creating an illegal pushback policy funded by the EU.

“The EU needs to stop bankrolling this pushback policy and shut down any future plans that gambles with people’s lives. The EU and European countries must invest in an asylum system that actually works and allows people to rebuild their lives. This is not about politics – it’s about what is right.”

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For more information, a copy of the report, or accompanying photos, please contact: Sarah Dransfield, in the Oxfam GB Press Office, on + 44 7884 114825 / sdransfield@oxfam.org.uk

or Jade Tenwick in Brussels, on + +32 473 56 22 60 / jade.tenwick@oxfam.org

Notes to Editors

Egala is a grassroots organization providing humanitarian aid, medical support and legal assistance to people on the move at the Poland-Belarus border. Oxfam partnered with Egala in 2023 as part of its response to the humanitarian crisis at the Poland-Belarus border.

The report “Brutal Barriers” collects extensive existing evidence as well as testimonies from Egala volunteers and workers on the ground and the voices of refugees themselves in order to document the human consequences of restrictive, illegal and inhumane policies at this border. An example testimonial is below and the report contains many more.

“Even in the summer, I met a man with first-degree hypothermia. He was emaciated and he hadn’t drunk anything. What would happen if we weren’t here? There would be a lot of dead bodies in the forest”, said Jagna, Egala volunteer and professional medic (name changed to protect identity).

In 2024, nearly 600 cases of violence by the Polish authorities were reported according to information provided by WeAreMonitoring.

The Polish government has taken several steps to create an illegal policy of pushbacks and violence including:

· September 2021: Poland created an exclusion zone at the border barring humanitarian workers and journalists. The zone was later reduced following legal action.

· June 2024: The Tusk government reintroduced the exclusion zone. The Polish authorities have yet to respond to requests from Egala to enter the zone to provide humanitarian assistance.

· June 2024: Poland enacted a law exempting Polish authorities from prosecution for improper use of weapons at the border.

· February 2025: Poland suspended the right to asylum at the Poland-Belarus border – effectively legalizing pushbacks.

Oxfam and Egala is calling on the EU to:

· Redirect EU funding and support away from border walls and surveillance and instead invest in strengthening Poland’s asylum and reception system.

· Publicly condemn the human rights abuses occurring at the border.

· Investigate breaches of EU asylum law by Poland and, if justified, initiate infringement proceedings.

· Ensure that Poland implements the EU Migration Pact – in particular, an independent monitoring of human rights violations, such as pushbacks.

Oxfam and Egala call on the Polish government to end its illegal pushbacks and to treat asylum cases in accordance with human rights standards. Poland should repeal its laws against decriminalizing firearm use, its suspension of the right to asylum, and give safe access to humanitarian and human rights organization to the border area.

In 2022, the EU allocated over 67 million euro to Poland under the Border Management and Visa Policy Instrument to cover ‘the additional needs for support related to the situation at the border with Belarus’. In 2024, the EU topped up this funding by 52 million euro to enhance border surveillance.