EU EASTERN BORDERS: NGO report highlights ‘systematic’ pushbacks at EU borders ― European court hears landmark pushback cases against Poland, Latvia and Lithuania ― NGO denounces deadly effects of ‘militarisation’ on Poland-Belarus border; urges parlia…

• A recent NGO report has revealed that over 120,000 pushbacks were recorded at the EU’s borders in 2024, including almost 20,000 at the eastern borders.
• The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has begun a landmark series of hearings against Poland, Latvia and Lithuania over allegations of pushbacks to Belarus.
• An NGO has warned about the deadly consequences of increased militarisation on the Poland-Belarus border and condemned Poland’s draft asylum law which is due to receive its second reading in parliament.
• Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has reiterated his opposition to the Pact on Migration and Asylum.
• The trial of five people who provided humanitarian aid to a group of people on the move on the Poland-Belarus border in March 2022 has begun.

A recent NGO report has revealed that over 120,000 pushbacks were recorded at the EU’s borders in 2024, including almost 20,000 at the eastern borders. According to the report by nine NGOs, including ECRE member organisations the Hungarian Helsinki Committee and the Center for Peace Studies (CMS), many of the pushbacks involved violence, with people on the move being beaten, robbed and abandoned in dangerous conditions that sometimes resulted in death. The report also reveals that 13,600 pushbacks were recorded in Poland, 5,388 in Latvia and 1,002 in Lithuania. Its authors were highly critical of the attitude of both the European Commission (EC) and EU member states (MS) to the well-documented pushbacks at the EU’s borders. They called for immediate action from the EC, EU MS and the European Border and Coast guard Agency (Frontex), in order to stop what they describe as the “troubling normalization of pushbacks and a retreat from the EU’s commitments to human rights”.

On 12 February, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) began a landmark series of hearings against Poland, Latvia and Lithuania over allegations of pushbacks to Belarus. The cases concern a number of groups of Afghans, Cubans and Iraqis who had separately attempted to enter the countries but were all allegedly pushed back. The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Michael O’Flaherty, who intervened in the hearing, highlighted the “significant implications” of the three cases for the “protection of the rights of individuals as well as for the system of human rights protection more broadly”. He also warned that “a tendency towards human rights exceptionalism is particularly noticeable in the area of asylum and migration”. ECRE member organisation the Association for Legal Intervention (SIP) echoed O’Flaherty’s words, saying: “The Court’s decisions in these cases will decide whether pushbacks will become the new European standard or whether absolute protection against torture and inhumane treatment will be confirmed”.

An NGO has warned about the deadly consequences of increased militarisation on the Poland-Belarus border. In a presentation to the Polish parliament on 4 February, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reported that 50% of the almost 450 people that its teams had treated close to the border between November 2022 and November 2024 had suffered physical trauma related to violence, including injuries sustained from beatings, dog bites and rubber bullets. MSF also condemned what it called Poland’s “unconscionable” draft asylum law which is scheduled for its second reading on 20 February. MSF’s criticism of the draft law was echoed by Human Rights Watch which, in addition to urging MPs to reject it, also called on the EC to consider taking legal action against Poland if it were to be adopted.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has reiterated his opposition to the Pact on Migration and Asylum. On 7 February, he told journalists that his government would not implement the Pact if it involved mandatory migrant quotas. “Poland will not implement the Migration Pact in a way that would introduce additional quotas of immigrants in Poland,” he said in a joint press conference with EC President Ursula von der Leyen. Tusk also highlighted Poland’s “particular situation” of hosting approximately two million Ukrainian refugees whilst facing “huge pressure from illegal migration” on its eastern border. “We are ready to co-operate with everyone to protect Europe from illegal migration”, he said. In response, Von der Leyen said that the EU would “take into account” the “extraordinary solidarity” Poland had shown with Ukrainian refugees. On 10 February, the EC clarified that EU MS would have “full discretion” to choose among three solidarity measures and would never be “obliged” to relocate people seeking asylum if they did not wish to do so.

The trial of five people who provided humanitarian aid to a group of people on the move on the Poland-Belarus border in March 2022 has begun. On 28 January, the Hajnówka District Court in Eastern Poland held the first hearing in the trial of the five people who are accused of “facilitating residence in the territory of the Republic of Poland in violation of the law” after they helped a family of seven from Iraq and an Egyptian. During a demonstration in support of the five accused, defendant Kamila Jagoda Mikołajek said: “Helping is our duty and none of us should be afraid of anyone in need. I do not regret what I did. I am proud of myself and every person who helps. We helped, we help and we will help”. Journalist Paulina Siegień suggested that the trial was about more than just the five accused. “This is a trial where the entire civil society is in the dock,” she said. ECRE member organisation the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights also condemned the prosecutor’s attempt to link the case to people smuggling. “We strongly protest against the actions of the District Prosecutor’s Office in Białystok, which we perceive as an attempt to create a chilling effect – to discourage others from providing humanitarian aid” it wrote in a statement.

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