Europe stuck in the management of migrants on its doorstep

Audio 19:30

Migrants from the Middle East in front of their tents at the Kuznitsa checkpoint on the border with Poland, in Grodno, Belarus, November 17, 2021. © AP / Leonid Shcheglov

By: Léa-Lisa Westerhoff Follow

2 min

The migration crisis on the border between Belarus and Poland continues.

In the forests of Podlasie, they are still 4,000 mainly from the Middle East.

Men, women, children camping in freezing temperatures and without any help.

On the Polish side, the police at the border have increased, making any passage almost impossible.

Just last night, around 100 migrants were intercepted by Polish police.

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And on the Minsk side, humanitarian aid is slow in coming, despite calls from Europe.

Technical discussions on repatriation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees are expected to begin in the coming days. Our correspondent

visited a reception center for refugees in a Polish town, very close to the Belarusian border.

In Hungary, the nationalist government of Viktor Orban is also pursuing a policy very hostile to migrants and refugees. He built a barbed wire fence at the border. It has also set up a legal wall, thanks to legislation that automatically rejects asylum seekers. But, there is a small category of immigrants with whom Viktor Orban has no problems: the rich foreigners. Between 2013 and 2017, Hungary welcomed more than 20,000 rich non-Europeans with open arms.

In France, with the systematic dismantling of migrant camps near the cities of Calais and Dunkirk, reinforced controls on the beaches, exiles now descend further south.

On the Picardy coast, near the Bay of Somme.

The goal is always to cross the Channel to reach England.

These last eight months, the police have witnessed about fifteen attempts to cross, however difficult at this place, given the 80 km to be crossed to the English coast.

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• Immigration

• Belarus

• Poland

• Refugees

• Hungary

• France

• Humanitarian

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