Poland To Suspend Right To Asylum After Tensions With Belarus On Migrants

Poland accuses Belarus of channeling migrants across its border. (file photo).

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on October 15 will announce a temporary suspension of the right to asylum as part of a new strategy to combat illegal migration amid tensions with neighboring Belarus. "One of the elements of the migration strategy will be the temporary territorial suspension of the right to asylum," Prime Minister Donald Tusk told a Civic Platform party congress on October 12. "I will demand this, I will demand recognition in Europe for this decision." Poland claims that the right to asylum is being used by Belarusian strongman ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and by people smugglers in a way that goes against the principle of the right to asylum and to punish Warsaw for its support of Ukraine following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of February 2022. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Belarus Service, click here.