October 18, Pozirk. Russia, Belarus or any other country cannot be allowed to abuse Europe’s values, including the right to asylum, and to undermine its democracies, the European Council said today at the Brussels summit.
The statement by the European Union institution that defines the EU’s general political direction and priorities comes as Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk faces severe criticism from advocacy groups and politicians for his migration strategy, which provides for the “territorial” suspension of the right to asylum.
The move may expose to risks thousands of Belarusians seeking asylum in Poland after fleeing politically-motivated persecution in Belarus.
The EU Council, however, sided with the Polish prime minister.
“Exceptional situations require appropriate measures. The European Council recalls its determination to ensure effective control of the Union’s external borders through all available means, including with the support of the European Union, in line with EU and international law. It reaffirms its commitment to countering the instrumentalisation of migrants for political purposes,” it said.
The suspension of asylum procedures has come under fire from Amnesty International. The plan is brazenly illegal, said Dinushika Dissanayake, its deputy regional director for Europe.
“EU member states like Poland are playing politics with the rights of refugees and migrants,” she said in a statement on October 16. “From Poland to Finland, Greece and Germany, so-called emergencies are being weaponized to enact laws that gravely undermine access to asylum and the protection from refoulement.”
Proposals to temporarily suspend asylum rights put the rights of people seeking safety at risk, the human rights activist noted. They punish people who may have been subject to violence and human trafficking, or “lured to EU borders under false pretenses.”
Dissanayake also said these proposals were clearly at odds with the EU’s recently adopted crisis regulation under the Pact on Migration and Asylum.
“States have a range of tools available to respond to security concerns, which must in all cases uphold human rights, including the right to asylum, as protected by the EU Charter on Fundamental Rights,” she stressed. “Since 2021, the EU has been tolerating practices enacted by Poland, Latvia and Lithuania at their borders with Belarus that go beyond all powers granted to them under EU law, and more recently at Finland’s border with Russia. It is high time for the European Commission to take its role as guardian of the treaties seriously and send a clear message that fundamental rights cannot be bent to political interests.”
The EU summit is taking place on October 17–18 with migration high on the agenda. European leaders discuss, among other things, strengthening control over the EU’s frontier and combating human trafficking and smuggling.
