One of these nations is Poland, who has undergone a major U-turn in migrant policy when it comes to accepting fleeing Ukrainians. Whilst this is of course a victory for human rights in eastern Europe, there is an alarming contrast between the Polish government’s treatment of Ukrainian refugees and refugees from non-European nations.
In the early hours of the morning of March 2nd, the Polish border guard tweeted the following: “Yesterday, 98,000 people entered Poland from Ukraine. Since February 24, our staff cleared the entry of over 453,000 people fleeing war-torn Ukraine. #BorderGuardhelps #solidarywithukraine”. An hour later, the same account tweeted: “Last night, 51 foreigners tried to illegally cross into Poland from Belarus. 11 people from Syria, 33 from Iraq, 1 from Burkina Faso and 6 from Congo were arrested”.
With migrants from nations, usually situated in the middle east, using Belarus as foothold into Europe as they flee their homelands for reasons such as War, persecution and economic hardship, Poland has been characteristically unsympathetic. Yet when it comes to those fleeing the situation in Ukraine, the Polish government stands with open arms in solidarity. Poland are even using the hashtag #PolandFirstToHelp to promote their welcoming of Ukrainian refugees.
Poland’s recent hostility towards non-white migrants has only been highlighted by this recent display of neighbourliness. It is hard to clap the Polish government on the back when you look at the way they treat those from largely non-white nations.
This hostility from migrants entering from Belarus could be seen as anger at the current Belarusian government – led by the controversial president Alexander Lukashenko, who in 2021 threatened to “flood” the EU with human traffickers, drug smugglers and armed migrants. Whilst this of course could be seen as the reasoning behind Poland’s hostility towards migrants entering from Belarus, it is alarming that migrants from largely non-white nations are more often seen as violent criminals when compared with their European counterparts. After all, nobody is referring to the fleeing Ukrainians as drug smugglers or human traffickers.
When asked about the migrants coming from places like Iraq and Syria, Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak claimed "The open-door policy led to terrorist attacks in Western Europe”. The link between open door migrant policies and terrorist attacks has been a hotly debated one in Europe for years, most notably after the 2015 migrant crisis and the series of terror attacks that took place in Paris in November 2015.
It is telling to see the different reactions of the Polish government (and to a larger extent European people as a whole) when it comes to Ukranian refugees and refugees from outside of Europe. Worryingly, refugees from middle eastern countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria are more likely to be labelled terrorists and criminals when compared with those from European nations such as Ukraine. Is this racism? Or merely the result of European camaraderie being seen as more important? And are the two really that mutually exclusive?