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UN experts on Tuesday urged Poland to investigate all allegations of harassment of human rights defenders helping migrants at the border with Belarus.
The independent experts called on Warsaw to allow journalists and humanitarian workers full access to the border area to carry out their work freely and safely.
The call came from Mary Lawlor, the special rapporteur on human rights defenders, and Irene Khan, the special rapporteur on freedom of expression.
They do not speak for the United Nations but are mandated to report their findings to the global body.
“I am receiving several reports of harassment from human rights defenders who assist migrants and document human rights violations against them at the Polish-Belarusian border, and I am deeply concerned at this practice,” Lawlor said in a statement.
Thousands of migrants — mostly from the Middle East — have camped in Belarus for weeks, often in freezing temperatures, hoping to cross the Polish frontier and enter the European Union.
Western countries accuse Belarus of having engineered the migrant influx to pressure the EU, which has imposed sanctions over the regime’s crackdown on the opposition and independent media.
On December 1, Poland’s interior ministry announced the extension of a controversial state of emergency that bars all non-residents — including journalists and non-governmental aid groups — from the border area.
In response to the influx of migrants, Poland built a barbed wire fence and massed thousands of soldiers along its 400-kilometre (250-mile) border with Belarus.
Armed soldiers have reportedly harassed journalists covering the arrival of migrants and asylum seekers.
“Interpreters and journalists, along with medics, lawyers and others who peacefully work for the protection of human rights or who provide humanitarian aid, are human rights defenders,” said Lawlor.
“Poland should bear this in mind and ensure that they are able to carry out their legitimate work in a safe and enabling environment and with full access to the border area.”
The experts said they were in touch with the Polish authorities.