A delegation of the Committee on Migration Issues of the Conference of INGOs visited Poland on 10-14 February 2025 to carry out an observation and analysis mission on the migration situation in the country.
During this mission, the delegation had institutional exchanges with key stakeholders in the migration field in Warsaw, visited the border regions of Czeremsze and Białystok to observe the situation on the Polish-Belarusian border, as well as to Przemyśl to analyse reception conditions for populations on the Polish-Ukrainian border.
The observations made during this mission highlighted several major issues:
- A different approach to the reception of displaced persons, depending on whether they come from Ukraine or other countries, with third-country nationals accommodated in closed or open camps.
- The Polish government's management of migratory flows is markedly security-oriented, with policies oriented more towards dissuasion.
- Increasing restrictions on funding allocated to NGOs, particularly from American funds, directly impacting their activities in the field.
- Criminalisation of humanitarian workers on the border with Belarus.
- A shift in support for Ukrainian refugees, highlighting the difficult transition from humanitarian emergency management to long-term integration programs.
- Growing discrimination against Ukrainian nationals, contrasting with the spontaneous welcome of the first months of the war and revealing a certain fatigue among the Polish population.
At the end of this mission, preliminary conclusions were presented to the embassies of Council of Europe member States, at a meeting held at the Belgian Embassy in Warsaw. The information gathered during this mission will be decisive in guiding the future work of the Committee on Migration Issues and will help strengthen its relations with other Council of Europe bodies.
The full text of the statement
Detailed Programme/Diary of the visit
Photo Credit to Caritas Poland
