Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk. File photo.
Warsaw, Poland: Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Monday defended a plan to temporarily suspend the right to asylum as human rights and and civil society organizations express concerns about the move.
Poland has struggled since 2021 with migration pressures on its border with Belarus - which is also part of the European Union's external border.
"It is our right and our duty to protect the Polish and European border,” Tusk said Monday on X. "Its security will not be negotiated.”
Successive Polish governments have accused Belarus and Russia of organizing the mass transfer of migrants from the Middle East and Africa to the EU's eastern borders to destabilize the West.
They view it as part of a hybrid war that they accuse Moscow of waging against the West as it continues its nearly three-year full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Some migrants have applied for asylum in Poland, but before the requests are processed, they travel across the EU’s border-free travel zone to reach Germany or other countries in Western Europe.
Germany, where security fears are rising after a spate of extremist attacks, has recently responded by expanding border controls at all of its borders to fight irregular migration. Tusk called Germany’s move "unacceptable.”
Tusk announced his plan to temporarily suspend the right for migrants to seek asylum at a convention of his Civic Coalition on Saturday. It will be part of a strategy that will be presented to a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
Dozens of nongovernmental organizations urged Tusk in an open letter to respect the right to asylum guaranteed by international conventions, which Poland signed, including the Geneva Convention on the Status of Refugees and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, and Poland's own constitution.
They argued that fundamental rights and freedoms must be respected.
