The living conditions of thousands of migrants, still stranded at the Belarusian border with Poland, are worsening.
In the middle of a forest, in the Grodno region, not far from the Brugzi border post in Belarus, families with children are trying to survive in dire conditions, in increasingly freezing temperatures.
Literally trapped in this lawless zone for weeks - Poland firmly holding the border on the European side - the tension has risen a notch in recent days after several attempts to cross hundreds of refugees to the European Union. To hold their border, the Poles have installed kilometers of barbed wire and crisscross the area day and night. Drones, equipped with thermal cameras, are also used to track migrants who try to make it through the night.
It was also impossible for them to turn back towards Minsk.
Ali, a young refugee, his cheeks hollowed out, bundled up under blankets donated by the few NGOs authorized to come to their aid, testifies to this.
“Every time we returned to the Belarusian border, we asked the border guards to take us back to Minsk so that we could come back to Lebanon.
They said: "No, you have only two choices: die here in Belarus, or die in Poland".
An “intolerable situation”, according to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
"I am dismayed that large numbers of migrants and refugees continue to be left in dire straits, in freezing temperatures," Michelle Bachelet said in a statement.
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From the outset, the European Union has accused Minsk of organizing these migratory movements, notably issuing visas to these thousands of migrants - mainly from the Middle East - in revenge for Western sanctions imposed on the Lukashenko regime last year, after its brutal crackdown on Belarusian opponents.
What Minsk still continues to deny.
In return, the regime accuses Poland of assaulting four migrants at the border.
According to the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza, seven refugees have been found dead in this area since the start of the crisis.
