HRW blames Polish authorities for ignoring Chechen refugees’ rights

Authorities of Poland refuse to grant asylum to residents of Chechnya, thus, exposing them to danger, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) has stated in its report.

Rights defenders in Poland and Belarus note that in 2016 the number of persons who had to go back because of Polish authorities’ refusals increased significantly; such cases have been fixed in 2017 as well, says the report posted on the HRW’s website on March 1.

"Poland put people under threat by denying their access to asylum process and returning them to Belarus, where they cannot get defence," the website quotes Lydia Gall, a HRW’s researcher for the Balkans and Eastern Europe.

The HRW has interviewed several dozen of Chechens, who had claimed the refugee status, but were denied entry to Poland. Over a dozen of them reported that border guards abused and humiliated them. They also said that inspecting bodies fail to interview persons face to face, while interrogation in public may threaten their safety, the HRW reports.

The HRW has requested the Polish Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) on the situation with Chechen refuges, and received an answer reading, with reference to border guards, that the majority of asylum seekers are "economic migrants." However, all the HRW’s respondents stated that they had been harassed by Chechen authorities in Chechnya and tortured at police stations.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.