Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk today defended a plan to temporarily suspend the right to asylum, raising concerns among human rights organizations and civil society about such a measure.
Poland has been facing difficulties related to migratory pressures on its border with Belarus - which is also part of the external border of the European Union (EU) - since 2021.
"It is our right and our duty to protect the Polish and European border. Its security will not be negotiated," Tusk declared today on the social network X (formerly Twitter).
Successive Polish governments have accused Belarus and Russia of organizing the mass transport of migrants from the Middle East and Africa to the EU's eastern borders, with the aim of destabilizing the West.
They see this action as part of a hybrid war that they accuse Moscow of waging against the West, while its large-scale invasion of Ukraine has continued for almost three years.
Some migrants apply for asylum in Poland, but before their applications are processed, they cross the EU's free movement zone to reach Germany or other Western European countries.
Germany, where security fears are rising after a series of extremist attacks, recently responded by increasing controls at all its borders to combat illegal immigration -- a move Tusk called "unacceptable."
Tusk announced his plan to temporarily suspend migrants' right to seek asylum at a convention of his Civic Coalition on Saturday. The move is part of a strategy that will be presented at a government meeting on Tuesday.
Dozens of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have urged Tusk, in an open letter, to respect the right to asylum guaranteed by international conventions signed by Poland, including the Geneva Convention on the Status of Refugees and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, as well as the Polish Constitution itself, arguing that Poland is a country where fundamental rights and freedoms must be respected.
“It was thanks to them that thousands of Polish women and men found refuge abroad during the difficult times of communist totalitarianism, and we have become one of the greatest beneficiaries of these rights,” the document stresses.
The letter was signed by Amnesty International and 45 other organizations representing a range of humanitarian, legal and civic causes.
Tusk claimed that Finland had also suspended accepting asylum applications after facing major migratory pressure on its border with Russia.
"The right to asylum is being used as a tool in this war and has nothing to do with human rights," Tusk said on the social network X on Sunday.
A spokeswoman for the European Commission, the EU's executive body, acknowledged the challenge posed by Belarus, as well as Russia, and did not explicitly criticize Tusk's approach.
"It is important and imperative that the Union protects the external borders, and in particular those of Russia and Belarus, two countries that have exerted great pressure on their external borders over the last three years," Anitta Hipper said during a briefing today.
"This is something that is undermining the security of EU member states and the Union as a whole," she added.
But she also stressed that EU member states are legally obliged to allow people to apply for international protection.
The spokesperson also said that the Commission intends to "work to ensure that Member States have the necessary tools to respond to this type of hybrid attack".
