A 186 km wall separates Poland from Belarus: thousands of people are injured trying to cross the border
The INTERSOS team active in Poland moved from the Ukrainian border to the Belarusian border, to provide medical assistance to people who crossed the border from Belarus to Poland. The humanitarian crisis at the Polish-Belarusian border has intensified since the summer of 2021 when thousands of people found themselves trapped in limbo between Belarus and Poland. Until July 2022, the Polish government maintained a state of emergency, establishing a highly militarised no-go zone along the border. During these months, a 5.5m high wall was built, covering 186km of the 418km Polish-Belarus border. On the other side of the border, degrading treatment of migrants by Belarusian law enforcement agencies has been documented, including theft of personal belongings and physical violence.
In addition to this, autumn, and winter in the Podlasie region exacerbate the conditions in which people must survive for many days, making the need for humanitarian assistance even more urgent. Many of the people who manage to cross the border on informal manner remain hidden for days, sometimes weeks, in the forests, risking their health and their lives. Furthermore, most of these people refuse the possibility of accessing the public health system for fear of being subjected to violence again, rejected, or ending up in a detention centre. Therefore, the presence of independent organizations and activist groups providing medical assistance at the border can be a matter of life and death
Bringing healthcare to the Belarus border
Since the first weeks of the crisis, several independent organisations and realities have been providing healthcare assistance, but, since the beginning of November 2022, INTERSOS and MSF are the only international organisations providing medical assistance on the Polish-Belarusian border. The most common pathologies among the people here are hypothermia, seizures caused by dehydration, gastrointestinal infections, and the so-called “trench foot“, i.e. the vascular and painful response of the feet to prolonged exposure to humidity and cold. Those who cross the border in the sections where the wall was built often have broken or twisted ankles and wounds caused by concertina wires. To this must be added the consequences of physical violence inflicted by officials: broken ribs, swollen heads, and other injuries requiring medical attention.
The INTERSOS team works in close collaboration with Grupa Granica, Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, Fundacja Ocalenie, and several other formal and informal groups and members of the local community involved in direct assistance activities. Grupa Granica is an informal coalition of various individuals, activists, but also Polish non-governmental organisations providing assistance on the Belarusian border. Together with other local and informal groups, Grupa Granica has been active since the beginning of the crisis and has developed effective methods of receiving and responding to requests for assistance. INTERSOS intervened in Poland in March 2022 to support the Ukrainian population fleeing the war.