HRC 53 FEDERA Statement to the Interactive Dialogue with Special Rapporteur on migrants

53rd session of the Human Rights Council  

ID with the Special Rapporteur on Migrants

June 2023

Thank you, President.

I make this statement on behalf of the Federation for Women and Family Planning from Poland. 

We welcome the report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants following his visit to Poland and Belarus and the considerations given to their lack of access to health services. 

The report clearly shows the racist and xenophobic discrimination by Polish authorities against migrants at the border with Belarus, compared to those coming from Ukraine.  We are appalled by the government’s egregious human rights violations against migrants at the Belarus border, often pushed back without access to essential health care or deprived of liberty in closed detention facilities. This includes pregnant women, children, and persons with mental health conditions. Such practices are illegal and place their life and health at risk in contravention of international human rights standards. 

The Federation welcomes the attention given by the Special Rapporteur to the consequences of the restrictive abortion law and the recommendation to address the obstacles to legal abortion faced by refugee women. We add to this our call on the Polish authorities to provide women with essential sexual and reproductive healthcare, including in detention. We call on this Council to closely monitor the situation of migrants and racism in Poland and urge the Polish government to fulfil its obligations in that regard.

I thank you.