On Wednesday, the Czech Republic, Poland and Austria began stricter border controls with Slovakia. In Poland, among other things, an escape attempt by a smuggler living in Germany was prevented.
ANNOUNCEMENT
Poland temporarily reintroduced border controls with Slovakia in connection with the increase in irregular migration via the “Balkan route”. The measure is initially limited to ten days.
According to the Polish border guard, the biggest crowds are in the so-called “Silesian section”.
Szymon Moscicki is an officer of the “Silesian Border Unit” and made a provisional assessment: “Almost 400 people were arrested in September, and currently there are almost 800. These people will be handed over to the Slovak side as part of the so-called “wheel mission “. Officials from the Silesian border guards also arrested 40 smugglers. This evening there was a chase, the car was stopped and there were nine migrants in the vehicle. These people had documents issued by the Slovak side indicating that they are probably Syrian citizens. The driver was a Moroccan with legal residence in Germany.”
Are human rights left aside?
Migration experts and aid workers speak of major problems in dealing with the situation. Not only in terms of human rights, but also in terms of the effectiveness of the measures.
Karol Wilczynski is a migration expert at the Jagiellonian University and a human rights activist: “We only talk about migrants and, above all, in the context of workers. Nobody treats them individually, nobody pays attention to their human rights. Nobody is trying to dismantle this smuggling “. networks – the recent visa scandal “shows that governments are more willing to work with smugglers to obtain individual benefits.”
German controls on the border with Poland
In addition to Poland, the Czech Republic and Austria have also reintroduced border controls. Germany has increased its patrols on the border with Poland.
Wojciech Przybylski is a political analyst and works for the Warsaw NGO “Visegrad Insight”: “There are political needs, not only in Poland. It is a coordinated effort, which naturally takes place in the middle of the election campaign in Poland, but is part of a process in that countries are trying to manage control of the EU’s external borders.”
At the Polish border crossing of Zwardon, Euronews correspondent Magdalena Chodownik commented: “The issue of migration and borders is once again one of the most important in the current election campaign in Poland and across the European Union. Of all Polish borders, only the maritime border is not subject to additional controls today.”