On 25 January 2022,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

began building a border wall on the border with Belarus to prevent

illegal immigration Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of that country's immigration laws, or the continuous residence in a country without the legal right to do so. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upward, wi ...

in the aftermath of the Belarus–European Union border crisis.

Construction

Poland began work on the 5.5-meter (18 foot) high steel wall topped with

barbed wire Roll of modern agricultural barbed wire Barbed wire, also known as barb wire or bob wire (in the Southern and Southwestern United States), is a type of steel fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the ...

at a cost of around 1.6 billion zł (US$407m) aimed at blocking the passage of illegal migrants during the border crisis in the region artificially instigated by Belarus in the late summer of 2021. The barrier was completed on 30 June 2022. An electronic barrier 206km in length, mounting 3,000 cameras with night vision and movement sensors, was added to the fence between November 2022 and early summer 2023 at a cost of EUR 71.8 million.

Criticism

Some media outlets, journalists and celebrities accused the Polish government of using border barrier to prevent entry of irregular asylum seekers. During and after the intense phase of the border crisis, Poland did not close its border crossings with Belarus and did not stop granting asylum. In 2022, 1,029 applications were made in

Terespol Terespol (; ) is a border town in eastern Poland on the border with Belarus. It lies on the border river Bug, directly opposite the city of Brest, Belarus. It has 5,794 inhabitants as of 2014. Overview Since 1999 Terespol has been within Bia� ...

and 1,070 in Podlaskie. Since the fence was built, illegal crossings have reduced to a trickle; however, between August 2021 and February 2023, 37 bodies were found on both sides of the border; people had died mainly from hypothermia or drowning. Ecologists criticised that populations of large mammals like lynx or European bisons are now separated.

Attempted crossings

During 2022, Poland recorded 16,000 attempted crossings of the border. In 2023, the electronic sensors logged 22,000 in the first 8 months.

History

On 15 October 2023, Poland held a

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

, with one of the four questions asked being: ''Do you support the removal of the barrier on the border between Poland and Belarus?'' The referendum was not binding due to not reaching the required threshold of 50% of the electorate, with 40.91% turnout - an effect of the boycott organised by the opposition. Among those who took part, 96.04% responded No, while 3.96% supported its removal.https://referendum2023.pkw.gov.pl/referendum2023/pl

References

External links