MINSK, 9 November (BelTA) – International organizations should take action in response to the plight of migrants trapped on the Belarusian border with Poland, Sergei Sivets, Chairman of the Legislation and State Building Commission of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus, told reporters on 9 November, BelTA has learned.
“A number of universally recognized international documents establish the general legal status of people and the absolute degree of protection and guarantees of their rights and freedoms. These are the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees is a cornerstone of international law regulating all aspects of refugee status, the rights and freedoms of refugees, the way national governments should respond to refugees' request to protect their property, social, legal and other rights,” Sergei Sivets said.
According to the senator, a number of articles in the convention prohibit the measures that are now used by the Polish authorities against refugees. “There is a direct ban on forced return of refugees to the territory from which they arrived; governments should handle procedural issues related to assimilation, accommodation and asylum. These are the minimum standards of ensuring rights and freedoms of people claiming protection. In fact, all the fundamental principles and norms of international law related to the implementation of the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees signed by most of the states, are being violated now,” he noted.
“Today's international law was drafted after the Second World War that was a humanitarian catastrophe for the whole world. Back then, international bans and rules were established to prevent another catastrophe like that. A large number of people wanted legal protection from international institutions. However, less than a century has passed and we are again witnessing the same things the humanity went through in the middle of the last century. We are creating prerequisites for this humanitarian civilizational catastrophe, which is now unfolding before our eyes on the border of Belarus and Poland. We must not allow this to happen. International institutions, primarily the UN, must respond to the situation on the Belarus-Poland border,” Sergei Sivets said.
