Selective Humanitarianism in Polish Migration Governance: Understanding Poland’s First Response to The Migration Crises in The Years 2021-2022
Selective Humanitarianism in Polish Migration Governance: Understanding Poland’s First Response to The Migration Crises in The Years 2021-2022

Author(s): Magdalena Bogucewicz
Subject(s): Migration Studies
Published by: Transnational Press London
Keywords: Humanitarianism; Polish Migration; Governance; Poland; Migration Crises;
Summary/Abstract: Increased migration flows are currently one of the greatest challenges for the international community. The “migration crisis” in Europe which started in 2015 posed the question of how to reconcile effective border control with respect for human rights. For many years this dilemma didn’t seem relevant to policymakers in Poland, but now this question applies more than ever. The migratory pressures that first occurred in 2021 on the Polish-Belarusian border, and in the following year on the Polish-Ukrainian border, rapidly changed migration policy in Poland. The significant diversity of the causes and courses of these events led to the formation of two, often opposing approaches to immigrants. The assumption made in this chapter is that this fundamental difference in the perception of migration flows results from the clash of two concepts: the securitization of migration and the humanitarian imperative. The simultaneous application of these divergent approaches in the context of migration crises in Poland contributed to the creation of double standards in the perception and treatment of applicants for international protection.

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