Along Belarus's border with EU countries Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland, thousands of refugees from mostly Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan are trapped between Belarusian and the EU countries' militaries. This conflict is a result of the Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko's actions. All of his election victories were believed to be fraudulent by much of the population and after his fifth victory in 2020 massive protests ensued. His response was harsh and widely condemned by the EU who imposed sanctions in response. Lukashenko only got more aggressive following the sanctions which led to more rounds of sanctions by the EU. After the fourth round Belarus announced they would not stop migrants trying to enter the EU. Not many migrants typically went through Belarus but following this announcement many started applying for tourist visas which Belarus widely granted. They were then bussed to the EU border by the Belarusian military despite the migrants not being allowed in by any of the three countries. They all responded by fortifying their borders with Belarus. As groups traveled along the border looking for a way in, many of them collected in area along the Poland border. Here the migrants were forced back into Belarus by the Polish military and then not allowed to leave, and even encouraged to keep trying by Belarus. They are now in camps lacking food, clean water, and shelter as it gets colder. Some have already died from the harsh conditions. No humanitarian help has been given these people and if an effort is not made many more will follow the same fate.
source: https://www.vox.com/videos/22822426/belarus-lukashenko-eu-migrant-crisis-poland
4 comments:
It is very sad to see people in despair, especially when they are trying to come to a new country for a better life and are met with weapons and an army. Belarus presdient is known as "one of the last true dictators" and if that tells us anything it is that he is cruel and should not have been elected, I think other EU countries should step in and try and take the refugees in and protect them from this dangerous environment.
It seems like every time Belarus is in the news it's for a tragic event or inhumane actions by its government and leaders. Belarus definitely needs to be tamed and sorted out before more innocent refugees and citizens get hurt or even worse die. Hopefully the US or another nation will step in and remedy the situation.
Over the course of history, the world has seen time and time again that dictatorships do not work. Eventually, the people of the country will rise up and riot or another country will come in to defend the people. Dictatorships are an ancient way of thinking, although Belarus is not the only country in the world to operate this way, any country that has this form of government in place needs to be fixed.
This is a type of conflict that I am sure the EU has dealt with before. What is interesting about this is that the EU has no real way to deal with conflicts other than sanctions. They have no power other than the economic might. It will be interesting to see what would happen if things escalated further.
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