"Catastrophic." That's
how the United Nations has described the unconscionable
crisis involving mistreatment of refugees in Poland and
Belarus. Arriving from Syria, Iraq, and other war-torn
Middle Eastern countries, families are simply
looking for safety and peace — yet they're
being ping-ponged back and forth between the bordering
countries of Belarus and Poland in Eastern Europe,
stranded, with nowhere to go. Both countries have
been doubling down on their anti-migrant, nationalist
rhetoric, while migrants looking for help are left out
in the literal freezing winter cold to
starve.
Migrants have reported being
beaten by Polish and Belarusian guards
to the point of broken bones and injuries. Details are
emerging about multiple dead children and young people,
including a 16-year-old who needed urgent medical
attention due to vomiting blood. His family continued to
be punted back and forth across the border by both
countries' security teams until the teenager
finally died in front of his family, cold, with no
medical help from either side. People who are
desperately pleading for help are, instead, being met
with violence and cruelty. This must
end! Sign the petition to
demand that the governments of Poland and Belarus offer
assistance, including food, water, shelter, and medical
aid, to these imperiled
refugees!