Erecting walls to restrict the flow of migrants from Belarus will not solve the border crisis, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Assistant High Commissioner for Protection with UNHCR, Gillian Triggs, told Sputnik on Tuesday.
According to Triggs, from the perspective of the UN High Commission for Refugees and Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, creating physical barriers on the borders is not a solution to the current migration crisis.
Triggs added that the current situation must be approached in a calm and humanitarian manner in order to enable asylum seekers to make an asylum request and the authorities to evaluate it according to legal principles.
In early November, Poland unilaterally closed the road checkpoint at Kuznica-Bruzgi, which reduced throughput in the Polish direction by a third.
Several thousand migrants have gathered at the border between Belarus and Poland over the past few weeks, hoping to get into the European Union. The Polish authorities have strengthened border security and deployed the military to block the illegal crossing attempts, blaming Minsk for the migration crisis.
Belarus has firmly denied the accusation and claimed that Poland is forcibly expelling migrants to its territory. Minsk is currently providing the stranded migrants with medical assistance, food, clothing and shelter. (ANI/Sputnik)
( With inputs from ANI )
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