protest by approximately 150 asylum seekers, mainly of Chechen origin, who are denied entry into Poland, was recently held near the Brest crossing point of the Polish-Belarussian border.

Ongoing barriers to accessing the asylum procedure in Poland have been reported by civil society organisations including the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights and the Association for Legal Intervention (SIP). A recent report by SIP documents systematic refusals by border guards in Brest and Terespol to allow entry to persons expressing the wish to apply for international protection.

The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights has recently sent a letter to the Polish Minister of Interior with regard to unlawful practices of denial of entry to persons seeking international protection, coming mainly from Tajikistan and Chechnya. In relation to the latter, the position expressed by the Minister was that persons coming from Chechnya are not refugees due to the fact that they are not fleeing war.

* This article first appeared in the Asylum Information Database (AIDA) website.

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This article will appear in the ECRE Weekly Bulletin of 2 September 2016. You can subscribe to the Weekly Bulletin here.