17/09: A group stranded between Belarus and Poland for over 16 days

18.09.2021 / 11:10 / Belarus/Poland

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 17th of September 2021

Case name: BEL/POL001

Situation: Group stuck under precarious conditions

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Belarus/Poland

Summary of the Case:

During the afternoon of September 17, we have been alerted to a group in distress in Belarus, stuck at the Polish border for 16 days. The people reported attacks from both sides oft he border: "Belarusian border guards are forced to enter Belarus and the Polish side refuses to enter."

We immediately informed UNHCR and Red Cross in Poland and Belarus about the group and asked for immediate assistance. After large parts oft he group managed to leave the area and returned to Minsk, 7 people remained in the area. They were constantly asking for help and feared to die in the woods.

During several days we urged authorities on both sides of the border including Frontex to help the people in distress – without success. At some point, we could not establish contact with the people anymore. It was also during this time, when three people were found dead – we have not been able to clarify if these people belonged to the group that reached out to Alarm Phone.

https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1439256676482359303

Last update: 11:29 Nov 13, 2021

Credibility:

Border police patrols
While the exact location of patrols is of course constantly changing, this line indicates the approximate boundary routinely patrolled by border guards’ naval assets. In the open sea, it usually correspond to the outer extent of the contiguous zone, the area in which “State may exercise the control necessary to prevent infringement of its customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws” (UNCLOS, art. 33). Data source: interviews with border police officials.
Coastal radars
Approximate radar beam range covered by coastal radars operating in the frame of national marine traffic monitoring systems. The actual beam depends from several different parameters (including the type of object to be detected). Data source: Finmeccanica.
Exclusive Economic Zone
Maritime area beyond and adjacent to the territorial sea in which the coastal state exercises sovereign rights for the purposes of exploring and exploiting, conserving and managing the natural resources, whether living or non-living, the seabed and its subsoil and the superjacent waters. Its breadth is 200 nautical miles from the straight baselines from which the territorial sea is measured (UNCLOS, Arts. 55, 56 and 57). Data source: Juan Luis Suárez de Vivero, Atlas of the European Seas and Oceans
Frontex operations
Frontex has, in the past few years, carried out several sea operations at the maritime borders of the EU. The blue shapes indicate the approximate extend of these operations. Data source: Migreurop Altas.
Mobile phone coverage
Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network coverage. Data source: Collins Mobile Coverage.
Oil and gas platforms
Oil and gas platforms in the Mediterranean. Data source:
Search and Rescue Zone
An area of defined dimensions within which a given state is has the responsibility to co-ordinate Search and Rescue operations, i.e. the search for, and provision of aid to, persons, ships or other craft which are, or are feared to be, in distress or imminent danger. Data source: IMO availability of search and rescue (SAR) services - SAR.8/Circ.3, 17 June 2011.
Territorial Waters
A belt of sea (usually extending up to 12 nautical miles) upon which the sovereignty of a coastal State extends (UNCLOS, Art. 2). Data source: Juan Luis Suárez de Vivero, Atlas of the European Seas and Oceans