Poland’s move to suspend migrants’ right to apply for asylum has generated heated debate at home and abroad. The measure, which applies to migrants who arrive from Belarus, comes at a time of growing tensions over border security and migration policy in Europe. This article will examine the election decision in Poland, the legal and human rights issues it raises, and the wider migration context in the region.
Poland’s Suspension of Asylum Rights: What It Means
On pretext of migrants crossing the Belarus – Polish border, Poland suspended the right to apply for asylum on 27 March 2025. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced the decision following a controversial vote to sign a law which enables Polish authorities to stall any application for asylum for up to 60 days after it was signed by the President Andrzej Duda. It is a major retightening of Poland’s immigration policies, at a time of increasingly fraught border tensions in Europe.
The bill approved by the Polish government allows authorities to suspend asylum requests from people who arrive in Poland through irregular means. In response, the Polish government has claimed that the measure is needed to secure the national interest in view of the heightened inflow of migrants at the border with Belarus. But the decision has provoked widespread backlash from international human rights groups and civil society.
Why the suspension is Put In Place
Poland’s government claims the suspension of asylum applications is required to bolster its border security. Prime Minister Tusk stressed that the measure would be applied at least temporarily, and that it would be invoked in cases where migrants are considered a threat to the security of the state. In particular, the suspension would apply to “large groups of aggressive migrants” trying to “storm” the border. The groups are widely cited as being organized by Belarusian authorities under the leadership of President Alexander Lukashenko.
Since 2021 Poland has been struggling with large numbers of migrants crossing into the country from Belarus, whose political and economic crisis has exacerbated the situation. Many see this to be due to the fact of Belarusian authorities using migration as a political weapon to destabilise neighbours Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.
The Polish government’s response has been to send thousands of troops and border guards to patrol the border and prevent illegal crossings. A 5.5-meter-high steel fence stretches along 186 kilometers of the border, aimed at making it more difficult for migrants to enter the country, too.
Human Rights Concerns
The government has defended the suspension of asylum applications but it has alarmed human rights organisations. Organizations like Human Rights Watch have derided the law, claiming that it breaches Poland’s international commitments enshrined in both the European Union (EU) and international law. There the claim is that the suspension of asylum rights is denying the most fundamental human right to seek shelter and protection from persecution.
The European Union must take legal action against Poland if the law is enforced, Human Rights Watch said. The group has contended that the legislation could ultimately result in the total closure of the Poland-Belarus border, where Polish officials are already accused of unlawful and abusive pushbacks — pushing migrants back across the border into Belarus without allowing them to lodge a request for asylum or protection.
The law’s critics say however that the suspension of asylum applications has deprived vulnerable people escaping violence and persecution of one of their most basic protections. The concern is that could leave vulnerable people, such as refugees and asylum seekers escaping war or political persecution in their home countries, without the vital protection they require.
Who Is Impacted by the Suspension?
Although the suspension is generally applicable to migrants entering Poland through Belarus, specific vulnerable communities are exempted. Those include unaccompanied minors, pregnant women, the elderly, and sick or otherwise vulnerable individuals. People with a “real risk of serious harm” in their home countries if they are returned will also be exempt from the suspension.
Citizens of countries blamed for weaponizing migration — like Belarus — will also be exempt from the suspension. This exemption follows the fact that the Belarusian authorities have been involved in provoking or facilitating illegal crossings into the Polish territory and other EU countries, treating migration as a hybrid weapon to destabilize the region.
The Prime Minister Tusk has stood by the policy, arguing that the measures do not seek to infringe upon human rights or the rights of asylum seekers in need of assistance. Rather, the suspension will apply only to people seen illegally traversing the border in organized groupings — specifically, those organized by the Belarusian regime.
How Poland’s Relations With the E.U. Are Being Affected
This is because Poland's suspension of asylum rights has major implications for its relationship with the European Union. The EU has long stressed the need to uphold human rights and to have a fair and humane asylum process. Guiding asylum and migration in the EU has been the 1951 Refugee Convention requiring signatory countries to offer asylum to persons fleeing persecution.
The suspension of asylum rights by the Polish government may also lead to increasingly strained relations with the EU as migration continues to be a hot button issue across the Union. Countries such as Germany and France have already voiced concerns about Poland’s management of migration and tensions are likely to grow if the suspension continues for a prolonged period.
In addition, the European Commission warned Poland that it risked undermining the E.U.’s core values, in particular the commitment to human rights and the protection of refugees. The EU has previously sued member states for violating EU principles, and it could do the same with Poland if the law is fully implements.
The Humanitarian Crisis Along the Belarusian Border
The continuing migrant crisis at the Belarusian border is set against the backdrop of a wider geopolitical struggle in the region. Since 2021, the number of migrants seeking to cross from Belarus to the EU has soared in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Finland. A lot of these foreigners are from countries like Iraq and Afghanistan, Syria, and are fleeing war and persecution in their native lands.
Poland and other European Union countries have blamed Belarus and Russia for orchestrating the migration crisis as part of a strategy of hybrid warfare to destabilize the E.U. and sow division among member states. President Lukashenko has been accused of playing a political game by funneling a steady stream of migrants to the EU’s borders in retaliation to the sanctions placed on his regime.
The humanitarian situation at the border has been dire, with many migrants reporting they had been stranded in the cold, cut off from food, water and medical care. Rights groups say more than a hundred people have died on the borders of Belarus, Poland, Latvia and Lithuania since 2021.