Polish border officials violently pushing back asylum seekers: HRW

Polish border officials violently pushing back asylum seekers: HRW
A Polish soldier patrols along the border with Belarus, in Bialowieza Forest, with migrants stranded on the Belarusian side, May 29, 2024. (AP Photo)
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Updated 10 December 2024
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Polish border officials violently pushing back asylum seekers: HRW

Polish border officials violently pushing back asylum seekers: HRW
  • Somalis, Yemenis describe pattern of abuse including beatings, pepper spray, destruction of personal property
  • ‘A border guard hit me with a baton in places so I couldn’t walk. They beat me and a friend for about an hour’

LONDON: Law enforcement in Poland is unlawfully and violently forcing asylum seekers back to Belarus, Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday, adding that those who are pushed back risk suffering serious abuse at the hands of Belarussian officials.

Others who are not intercepted after being returned to Belarus face injury or even death in harsh winter conditions, said HRW, which conducted in-depth interviews in November with 22 asylum seekers in Poland, including people from Yemen, Somalia and Comoros.

All but five had experienced at least one pushback — in violation of asylum law — from Polish officials on the border. They were subsequently admitted to Poland and allowed to apply for asylum.

A consistent pattern of abuse and violence was described by the interviewees, including beatings with batons, use of pepper spray and destruction of personal property such as mobile phones.

Eli, 25, from Somalia, told HRW that he was summarily pushed back by Polish border forces five times between April and June. His phones were destroyed and he was pepper-sprayed by border guards.

“The first time … we got across the border and walked 1 km into Poland when border guards caught us. They put us in plastic zip ties … They took our phones and smashed them with their batons … They took us by military car to the borderline and opened a gate in the metal fence and told us to go back to Belarus,” he said.

“I kept telling them in English that I wanted protection and asylum in Poland, but they just said go back to Minsk. I was still handcuffed when pushed back.”

Tariq, 24, from Yemen, was pushed back three times between August and October. The first time he was pushed back, border guards intercepted him shortly after crossing the fence and he was pepper-sprayed. The second time he was beaten.

He said: “It was like smoke in my eyes, I was in pain for days. A border guard hit me with a baton in places so I couldn’t walk, on my legs mainly … They beat me and a friend for about an hour … I didn’t ask for asylum because even if I ask they won’t help. I just said: ‘I want Poland.’ The border guards said: ‘You want Germany or France.’ I said: ‘No, I want Poland.’

“Then they just put us in a car and drove us to the border and pushed us across. They took us straight to the border, no station.

“They had zip-tied me when they caught us so when they pushed me through the fence, I still had them on.”

During his third pushback, a Polish police officer stripped him to his underwear and beat him. “Then another officer came, and the beating stopped,” said Tariq.

“They took me to the border. There were others in the car, Africans, Syrians, and we were all pushed back. There were three women in the group and one could barely stand.”


Denmark says no country can ‘just help themselves’ to Greenland

Updated 10 sec ago
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Denmark says no country can ‘just help themselves’ to Greenland

Denmark says no country can ‘just help themselves’ to Greenland
“Greenland is a wonderful place, we need it for international security,” Trump said
Lokke said he was “satisfied” that Trump had not cited Greenland as a priority in his speech

COPENHAGEN: Denmark’s foreign minister said Tuesday that no country should be able to simply help themselves to another country, following US President Donald Trump’s renewed remarks about taking control of Greenland.
Trump, who took office on Monday, set off alarm bells in early January by refusing to rule out military intervention to bring the Panama Canal and Greenland — which is an autonomous Danish territory — under US control.
“Of course we can’t have a world order where countries, if they’re big enough, no matter what they’re called, can just help themselves to what they want,” Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told reporters Tuesday.
While he didn’t mention Greenland in his inauguration speech on Monday, Trump was asked about it by reporters in the Oval Office afterwards.
“Greenland is a wonderful place, we need it for international security,” Trump responded.
“I’m sure that Denmark will come along — it’s costing them a lot of money to maintain it, to keep it,” he added.
Lokke said he was “satisfied” that Trump had not cited Greenland as a priority in his speech, but added that the “rhetoric” was the same.
“It doesn’t make me call off any crisis, because he said other things about expanding the American territory,” Lokke told Danish media.
Greenlandic Prime Minister Mute Egede has insisted “that Greenland is not for sale” but that the territory was open to doing business with the US.
Among Danes, the omission of Greenland in the inauguration speech led to some relief.
“He didn’t mention Greenland or Denmark in his speech last night, so I think there’s room for diplomacy,” 68-year-old actor Donald Andersen told AFP.
On Monday, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a post to Instagram that Europe would need to “navigate a new reality.”
While noting the Greenlandic people’s right to self-determination, the head of government also stressed the need for Denmark to maintain its alliance with the US — which she described as Denmark’s most important since World War II.
A number of Danish party leaders were called to the prime minister’s office on Tuesday to be briefed on the situation.
“We have to recognize that the next four years will be difficult years,” Pia Olsen Dyhr, leader of the Green Left, told reporters after meeting with Frederiksen.

Zelensky says Ukraine working to set up Trump meeting

Zelensky says Ukraine working to set up Trump meeting
Updated 22 min 28 sec ago
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Zelensky says Ukraine working to set up Trump meeting

Zelensky says Ukraine working to set up Trump meeting
  • “The teams have been working on a meeting, they are currently in the process,” Zelensky said
  • Trump has said he will stop the war in Ukraine swiftly without saying how

DAVOS: Ukraine is working to set up a meeting between President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump, Zelensky said on Tuesday.
“The teams have been working on a meeting, they are currently in the process,” Zelensky said of efforts to arrange a meeting with Trump.
He was speaking in an interview panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Trump, who took office on Monday, has said he will stop the war in Ukraine swiftly without saying how.
Zelensky said Ukraine would not agree to Russian demands that it drastically reduce the size of its military, predicting that Russian President Vladimir Putin would demand Ukraine cut its military to a fifth its size.
“This is what he wants. We will not allow this to happen,” Zelensky said.
In his speech, Zelensky suggested Europe had less influence over Washington because the United States viewed its allies’ contribution to security as lacking.
“Does anyone in the United States worry that Europe might abandon them someday – might stop being their ally? The answer is no,” Zelensky said.


Zelensky urges ‘united’ European defense policy at Davos

Zelensky urges ‘united’ European defense policy at Davos
Updated 56 min 12 sec ago
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Zelensky urges ‘united’ European defense policy at Davos

Zelensky urges ‘united’ European defense policy at Davos
  • Zelensky said Europe needed to be ready to stand on its own feet and must work to remain relevant as a “strong global” player
  • “Europe must be able to guarantee peace and security for itself“

DAVOS: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday that Europe should develop a joint defense policy and be willing to increase spending to guarantee its own security from emerging threats.
His comments to the World Economic Forum in Davos came a day after the inauguration of US President Donald Trump, who has demanded NATO members raise their defense spending and boasted he can end the war in Ukraine, without offering a clear roadmap.
Zelensky said Europe needed to be ready to stand on its own feet and must work to remain relevant as a “strong global” player and “indispensable” on the global stage.
“We need a united European security and defense policy, and all European countries must be willing to spend as much on security as is truly needed,” Zelensky argued in his address to the WEF.
“Europe must be able to guarantee peace and security for itself,” he added.
He evoked the Kremlin’s deployment of North Korean troops to western Russia to illustrate what he said were growing threats to European security.
“European leaders should remember this — battles involving North Korean soldiers are now happening in places geographically closer to Davos than to Pyongyang,” he said.
And he pointed to a recent pact between Russia and Iran boosting their economic and military cooperation, saying the accord was an example of a changing landscape that was a threat to Europe.
“Whom do they make such deals against? Against you, against all of us,” he said. “Such threats can only be countered together,” he added.
Zelensky also questioned whether Trump was committed to NATO and European security, claiming that Washington has openly indicated their security priorities lie in the Middle East and in the Asia-Pacific region.
“Will President Trump even notice Europe? Does he see NATO as necessary? And will he respect EU institutions?” Zelensky asked.


‘Canada will respond’ if US imposes tariffs: Trudeau

‘Canada will respond’ if US imposes tariffs: Trudeau
Updated 21 January 2025
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‘Canada will respond’ if US imposes tariffs: Trudeau

‘Canada will respond’ if US imposes tariffs: Trudeau
  • “Canada will respond and everything is on the table,” Trudeau told a news conference

OTTAWA: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday vowed a strong response if Donald Trump slaps 25 percent tariffs on Canadian imports, which the US president signaled could come as early as February.
“Canada will respond and everything is on the table,” Trudeau told a news conference, adding that Ottawa’s reaction would be “robust and rapid and measured,” but also match dollar for dollar the US tariffs.


Marco Rubio becomes Secretary of State, emphasizes ‘America First’ agenda

Marco Rubio becomes Secretary of State, emphasizes ‘America First’ agenda
Updated 21 January 2025
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Marco Rubio becomes Secretary of State, emphasizes ‘America First’ agenda

Marco Rubio becomes Secretary of State, emphasizes ‘America First’ agenda
  • The US Senate unanimously confirmed Rubio, a China hawk and staunch backer of Israel, just hours after Trump took office on Monday
  • “His (Trump’s) primary promise when it comes to foreign policy is that the priority of the United States Department of State will be the United States,” Rubio said

WASHINGTON: US Senator Marco Rubio from Florida became the first of President Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees to be sworn into office on Tuesday, where he emphasized that US foreign policy under Trump will put American needs first.
The US Senate unanimously confirmed Rubio, a China hawk and staunch backer of Israel, just hours after Trump took office on Monday.
“His (Trump’s) primary promise when it comes to foreign policy is that the priority of the United States Department of State will be the United States, it will be furthering the national interest of this country,” Rubio said after he was sworn into office by US Vice President JD Vance.
He added that another foreign policy goal under Trump will be “the promotion of peace. Of course, peace through strength, peace and always without abandoning our values.” Rubio, 53 and a Republican, was a long-term member of the Senate foreign relations and intelligence committees. He is a harsh critic of China and an advocate for Israel. The son of immigrants from Cuba, he has also pushed for tough measures against the Communist-ruled island and its allies, especially the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
During his confirmation hearing, he warned that the US must change course to avoid becoming more reliant on China, and promised a robust foreign policy focused on American interests.
Rubio also said it should be US policy that the war in Ukraine must end. He said reaching an agreement to stop the fighting would involve concessions from both Moscow and Kyiv, and he suggested that Ukraine would have to give up its goal of regaining all the territory Russia has taken in the last decade.
Rubio is the first person of Hispanic origin to serve as the nation’s top diplomat.