Human Rights Watch: Belarus and Poland violate human rights at the border

Both Belarus and Poland have committed "serious" human rights violations at their border, where thousands of migrants, including Yazidi refugees, are stuck, Human Rights Watch said in a statement.
The governments of the two countries "are obliged to prevent further deaths by ensuring regular humanitarian access to people stuck in the border zone," the human rights defenders said in a statement quoted by AFP.
Interviews conducted by HRW researchers with 19 people showed that Polish border guards treated migrants cruelly.
The Human Rights Watch report highlights that these actions violate the right to asylum in accordance with EU law and calls on the EU to show solidarity with refugees at the border on both sides who are suffering from the prevailing conditions.
The Yezidis who are stuck on the Polish-Belarusian border fall under the status of refugees.
Refugees are persons who, in the sense of the definition of the 1951 Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees of the United Nations and its Special Protocol, due to well-founded fears, may become victims of persecution on the basis of race, religion, nationality, belonging to a certain social group, sexual orientation or political views, are outside the country of their citizenship and cannot enjoy the protection of this country or do not wish to enjoy such protection due to such fears; or, not having a certain nationality and being outside the country of their former habitual residence as a result of such events, they cannot or do not want to return to it due to any fears.
According to the researchers, "violence, inhuman or degrading treatment and coercion" by Polish border guards were "a common act", and such treatment "in some cases may constitute torture in violation of international legal obligations."
The HRW report accuses Polish border guards of separating some migrants from their family members, including parents from children, taking those in need of medical care to the hospital, and sending the rest back to Belarus. HRW called on both countries to stop mutual expulsion of migrants and provide independent observers, including journalists and human rights defenders, with access to currently restricted border areas.
Hundreds of Yazidis from Iraq and Syria are among the migrants stranded on the border of Belarus and Poland. They are trying to cross the Polish border and reach other European countries even though the EU rejects their admission.