THE FOREST OF REFUGE - on-going refuges crisis on the Belarus-EU border

Three men from Iraq were caught by Polish police near the Bialowieza forest when they came to a nearby road stations asking for food and water. They were kept in a police car until arrival of the border guards. They were denied the possibility to apply for asylum despite asking for it. Hajnowka; Poland; 19.10.2021

An injured woman from Somalia, who wants to apply for asylum in Poland, is put in a border guards’ truck and taken to the nearby border guard’s station. Together with seven other Somalis, she spent fifteen days in the forest, without food, surviving only by drinking dirty water from pebbles. Half of the group was not even 18 years old. Siemianowka, Poland, 25.10.2021

Youssef (37), Syrian, was brutally beaten by Belarusian forces. He lost his sight for several days; his jaw was broken, and he lost a tooth. After the incident he was pushed back two more times by Polish forces, before finally being taken to a hospital where he spent 7 days. In Syria he was an engineer. His wife and daughter stayed in Syria. He preferred to go alone and risk his own life before putting his family in danger. Bialystok, Poland, 11.11.2021

A group of Yemeni and Palestinian migrants continue their journey after receiving food, warm clothes, and power banks from a group of activists from a Polish NGO, Ocalenie Foundation (“Salvage Foundation”). Weeks later they all managed to arrive where they wished in Western Europe. Sejny, Poland, 01.11.2021

A funeral of Ahmed Al Hassan (19) was organized by a polish Muslim Tatar’s community in Bohoniki. Ahmed was Syrian, he drowned a month ago in Polish river Bug after crossing the Belarusian border and trying to get to EU. He was the first victim out of at least 13 people who died in Polish forests to be buried. (Since the photograph was taken, at least 3 more bodies were found in the Bialowieza forest.) Bohoniki, Poland, 15.11.2021

An Iraqi Kurdish family of seven, with 5 children from 15 to 5 years old, have already spent 20 days in the woods. They were exhausted, had not eaten in five days. One of the girls needed medical assistance. Shortly after they were met by a group of volunteers, they were again captured by Polish border guards and then sent back inside the forest and pushed through the border with Belarus. Near Siemianowka, Poland, 13.11.2021

A Polish soldier is patrolling railway lines near Werstok, right close to the state of emergency zone near the border with Belarus. Migrants trying to reach the main roads are often travelling along the railway tracks or energy lines. For the military and border guards’ patrols are more efficient they are equipped with nocte and term vision utensils. Werstok, Poland, 11.11.2021

Gulya (49), mother of three, after several days of walking in wet shoes through the forest, she had huge blisters on her feet and a painful opened wound on her stomach caused by abrasion and mycosis disease. Here is held by her husband, as volunteers from a Polish NGO, Ocalenie Foundation (“Salvage Foundation”) are providing basic medical help. Gulaya together with her family was running away from Turkey, where according to their testimony, as Kurds they were oppressed and maltreated by the Turkish authority’s. Near Giby, Poland, 02.11.2021 (name changed to protect the source)

Volunteers from the Salvation Foundation bring basic medical aid, water, hot food and clothes to a group of migrants who have been stranded in the woods for ten days. 01.11.2021, Sejny, Poland

Nazwer (36) together with his sister in law and her children is travelling to join his brother in Germany, when he migrated a year later and already asked for asylum in the country. After spending at least 20 days in the woods, he is exhausted, sick and afraid for the safety of his nieces and nephews. Near Siemianowka, Poland, 13.11.2021

A funeral of Mustafa Mohammed Murshed Al-Raimi (37), from Yemen who died probably by freezing after crossing the Belarusian border and trying to get to EU was organized by a polish Muslim Tatar’s community in Bohoniki. His brother came from Yemen for the occasion and a representative from the Yemen ambassy was also present at the ceremony. Bohoniki, Poland; 20.11.2021

Sena (50), Syrian is crying while looking at a photograph of her sister’s grave. Her sister died in a bomb attack a few years ago. Sena is now in a refugee center in Bialystok, she is one of the lucky ones, as she was taken to a hospital and treated when found in a severe condition in the woods. She was however separated from her family whom she was traveling to join her oldest son who is already living in Germany. Bialystok, Poland, 11.11.2021

Kalina and Karolina both from the Ocalenie (Salvation) Foundation were looking for a group of about 20 migrants, with 6 children, for more than two hours walking trough the woods, using head light lamp and trying not to alert attention of anyone who could alert police or border patrols. They had no contact with the group as the only phone the group had probably run out of battery. In the end, mostly due to the suspicious cars’ movement on the road in the middle the forest where they were lookin, they decided to withdraw without finding the group. Near Hajnowka, Poland, 03.11.2021

A group of five Yemeni migrants are sitting in the tiny forest next to the main road, waiting for the smugglers car to pick them up. They asked for warm food and clothes to survive one or two nights before being taken further to Germany. Their hide out was well organized. Volunteers from a helping organization were looking for them for more than half an hour, even though they had their exact location. Near Hajnowka, Poland, 04.11.2021

Khedr (39), Syrian from Homs is supported by Michal Wolny, a volunteer in Ocalenie Foundation, (“Salvage Foundation”), who found him several hours earlier lying almost without consciousness in the woods. Khedr, crossed the Polish border with Belarus together with his brother at least 4 days before. They were both later transported to a hospital nearby. Near Orla, Poland, 14.11.2021

A migrant woman in severe condition of hypothermia is being transported to a hospital. Near Swinoroje, Poland, 12.11.2021

Abdul Tamim (18) is from Afghanistan. His father worked for the US army and with the rest of his family went to hiding since the Taliban took over the country. Abdul was in Russia, working at the European Football Games at that time and he could not come back to his country afterwards. He wanted to go to his uncle in Germany, but got stuck at the border. For three days that he spent alone in the forest, he has been only eating leaves. He was later caught by border guards, released, caught by the police and released again. He managed to get to Germany and is now going through asylum seeker process. Barszczewo, Poland, 19.10.2021

Sangat (23); from Baghdad has spent the last week walking in Polish forests. He has developed a condition known as trench foot; very often seen among migrants trapped in the forest at the Polish Belarusian border. If not treated in time it can only be cured by a surgery; stays painful for months and in some cases may result in amputation. Hajnowka; Poland; 19.11.2021

Marta Szymanderska-Pastryk (23); employee of Ocalenie Foundation; (“Salvage Foundation”) is looking for Internet reception in the middle of the forest trying to get in touch with a group of migrants who contacted the foundation asking for help. Near Giby; Poland; 01.11.2021

Green light in front of Kamil Syller’s house in Werstok. Green bulb set in front of a house has become a symbol of help towards migrants trapped in forests around the border. Syller who lives right at the border of Bialowieza forest is the initiator of the initiative. As he says, these lights mark safe houses where migrants can knock, find help and shelter. In the Podlashie region strongly influenced by the governmental propaganda against migrants, they are also a sign to the community that there are people willing to help and that helping is not illegal. In the recent couple of weeks, owners of the houses with green lights have also become more exposed towards violent behavior of neighbors, nationalists patrolling the area and even Polish forces. Werstok, Poland, 20.11.2021

A Kurdish family of seven spent three weeks in a forest near the Polish-Belarusian border, sleeping outdoors with practically no food or drink. Like thousands other migrants, they became pawns in a political conflict where the hope of easily accessing the EU was only to lure them into coming to Minsk. Once there, the Belarusian forces helped them to the frontier, but they were often stopped and beaten if they wanted to come back in fear of the Polish military protecting the border. Against international laws, migrants who crossed were regularly deported, even if they asked for asylum. Hundreds were shuttled for weeks between the two countries, often without access to food, water, or medical assistance.

The crisis directly results from a political showdown between the Belarusian President, Lukashenko, who orchestrated the influx of migrants as revenge for EU sanctions, EU leaders, and the Polish Government. The latter mobilized over 20 000 military forces in the border area, where humanitarian organizations, medics, and journalists have been banned under the imposed state of emergency.

Migrants who have managed to get out of the zone by hiding in the forests rely only on the help of dozens of grassroots volunteers and residents. So far, at least 13 people died on the Polish side trying to find a better future in the EU. Human rights groups fear that the true number of victims will rise as the temperatures drop below zero degrees. As a Syrian migrant who in severe condition was transported to a hospital after spending weeks in the woods said, "Being in this forest is worse than being at war, where your death is sudden, so fast you may not even see it coming. Here people die slowly, they know they are dying, and that there is no help for them.”