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Kasia Wappa is helping migrants by hosting them in her house. Her family has lived in the region for generations. Kasia Strek for NPR hide caption

As the migrant crisis evolved in November near the border of Poland and Belarus, photographer Kasia Strek spent several days documenting what she saw.

"Migrants in the woods feared everyone, which did make reporting particularly difficult," Strek said. "Especially that as journalists, we were already banned from entering the state of emergency zone established by the Polish authorities, right beside the border with Belarus, where most of the crisis was actually taking place."

According to Strek, people came from all over Poland to help the migrants at the border on their own.

Mohammed is from Syria. He spent the last four years in Turkey, before trying to get to the European Union. Before leaving Syria, he survived a bomb attack when he was praying in a mosque, which injured his head, an arm and a leg. Kasia Strek for NPR hide caption

Blend, a Kurd from Iraq, considers himself lucky. He has only spent 14 days in a camp on the Belarusian side of the border and five days in the woods after crossing to the Polish side. When his kidney problems started to become unbearable because of lack of food and water for the last days, and he couldn't walk longer, volunteers from Polish aid organizations arrived to help. Kasia Strek for NPR hide caption

Blend, a Kurd from Iraq, considers himself lucky. He has only spent 14 days in a camp on the Belarusian side of the border and five days in the woods after crossing to the Polish side. When his kidney problems started to become unbearable because of lack of food and water for the last days, and he couldn't walk longer, volunteers from Polish aid organizations arrived to help.

Since September, a wave of migrants from Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and other countries have been camped in the sprawling Biaowiea Forest at the border in freezing temperatures.

They were hoping to cross into Poland. Belarus has been accused of encouraging migrants to fly to its capital Minsk, before pushing them toward the border with Poland, and even encouraging them to clash with Polish authorities. It's a charge that Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko's regime has denied.

Here is what the photographer saw.

Kasia Wappa prepares to enter a local forest trying to find people who asked for help. This was known as a "silent intervention." It was organized with Grupa Granica, an activist group. They give people food, warm clothes, power banks to charge their cellphones and medical help so they can continue their journey. Kasia Strek for NPR hide caption

Left: Sangat talks to his father in Baghdad for the first time after leaving Minsk weeks earlier. When he was found by one of the local activists, he was completely wet and hadn't had any food or water in two days. Right: Sangat developed a condition known as trench foot. It is very often seen among migrants trapped in the forest at the Belarus-Polish border. Kasia Strek for NPR hide caption

Kamil Syller is a lawyer who lives very close to the Belarusian border. He and his family prepared beds for people who might need help. And they use a "green light" to indicate homes in the area that can help provide shelter to refugees. Kasia Strek for NPR hide caption

Ammar Alshtewy left Syria running for his life as he refused to join the military and participate in armed conflict. He is a refugee in Belgium where he lives with his wife and two daughters, but when he learned that his mother and younger sister, who did not tell him that they were coming, got trapped at the Belarus-Poland border, he came to meet them. Kasia Strek for NPR hide caption

Employees and volunteers from Ocalenie Foundation, one of the main organizations helping at the border, look at their supplies during a briefing between shifts in their temporary office in Sokolka. Kasia Strek for NPR hide caption

Maciej Jaworski and Patryk Tamberg live in the restricted zone around the Belarus-Poland border. After accidentally meeting migrants in the forest nearby, they decided to do their best to help. They look in the areas known to be frequented by migrants in the forest hoping to bring them aid. Kasia Strek for NPR hide caption

Clothes, documents and sleeping bags left behind by migrants in the woods near Narewka, Poland. The spot is known to be a meeting place with drivers, who try to bring migrants to other countries in the European Union. Kasia Strek for NPR hide caption

Activists from the Ocalenie Foundation prepare their car for an intervention, by packing clothes, food, water and power banks for charging cellphones, among other supplies. Kasia Strek for NPR hide caption

Police control cars looking for smugglers in Narew, near the Belarus-Poland border area. Kasia Strek for NPR hide caption

Five men from Iraq were caught on the border of the forest when they were asking for food and water. They were kept in the police car until border guards arrived. Kasia Strek for NPR hide caption

In November, at least three military camps were installed in Dubicze Cerkiewne, a small village near the restricted state of emergency zone. Kasia Strek for NPR hide caption

Polish politician, Katarzyna Kretkowska, speaks during a demonstration with migrants in Hajnowka, Poland, organized by the group Mothers at the Border. People came to protest how the government was handling the crisis and to show support for those helping people trapped in the forest. Kasia Strek for NPR hide caption

A nationalist march was organized in Bialystok to thank Polish security forces for protecting the borders. Kasia Strek for NPR hide caption

A funeral for Mustafa Mohammed Murshed Al-Raimi, from Yemen, who died after crossing the Belarusian border into Poland. His brother came from Yemen for the occasion. Kasia Strek for NPR hide caption

Left: After illegally crossing the border with Belarus, migrants were buried in a provided area at the cemetery in Bohoniki, Poland. Funerals were organized by members of the Tatar community, a Muslim ethnic minority group in Poland. Right: Natalia Boryslawka, a volunteer at Ocalenie Foundation, cries at the funeral of Mustafa Mohammed Murshed Al-Raimi. Kasia Strek for NPR hide caption

Kasia Strek is photojournalist based in Paris, France and Warsaw, Poland. Follow her on Instagram @kasia_strek.

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This photographer captured how activists helped migrants at the Poland-Belarus border - NPR

Following the fall of Kabul, the United Nations aid agencies, worldwide charities, Western diplomats and government officials became united to warn the world about an unfolding humanitarian crisis resulting from the Taliban returning to power.

South Asia is indeed heading toward a colossal humanitarian crisis especially emerging from the events in Afghanistan. Many experts believe that the coronavirus-hit economies will continue to face new challenges like refugee crises across the globe in 2022.

In an article for the Middle East Institute, researcher Roie Yellinek called it the politics and the geopolitics of Afghan refugee crisis. A number of Save the Children reports have revealed new challenges in freezing winters for refugees across the globe.

The question arises on how many Afghan children will be able to resist harsh weather conditions, insufficient food supplies and lack of medication. For many Afghans, like Africans and Central Americans, poverty, war and hunger have left little hope to survive in their own countries.

Not a single day passes that I don't read or watch news reports of migrants voyages to Europe in search of a better life. A report by the Pledge Times quoted Save the Children, saying more than 1,300 migrants died at sea in 2021, whereas 28,600 migrants were saved by the Libyan Coast Guard.

Since the fall of Kabul, I have reviewed a series of articles in the global media featuring the struggle of ordinary Afghans in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.

Strange though, most sections of the Western media are full of glamorous stories that show images of Western cities and their residents holding placards with captions, Welcome to Yorkshire while at the same time, British Home Secretary Priti Patel, a daughter of migrant parents herself, has turned out to be extraordinarily tough both in her speeches and overall stance on migrants, nearly placing her in the racist category.

In contrast, I can count dozens of stories published in the mainstream Western media print, broadcast newspapers and television channels that blame neighboring Muslim countries for not doing enough to accommodate the Afghan refugees.

These news reports suggest a single theme that Europe is humanitarian and how ordinary Europeans are anxiously waiting for Afghan refugees in their cities to start new lives.

The reality, however, is quite grim because Europes treatment of refugees doesnt equate with all those past and recent campaigns that portray Europe as a custodian of human rights, democracy and peace.

Most of the articles in the Western press on Afghan refugees show that the West is welcoming and accommodating to Afghan refugees, while it is the neighboring Muslim countries that are cold and unwelcoming to Afghans.

Look at The Washington Post headline: As some countries welcome Afghan refugees, others are trying to keep them out. Correspondingly, Foreign Policy wrote that Afghan refugees get a cold welcome in Pakistan. Whereas Iran is deporting, and Turkey is reluctant to take more Afghan refugees.

Even before the fall of Kabul in 2021, the coronavirus-hit economies in Turkey, Iran and Pakistan were hosting millions of Afghan refugees without mandatory support. Now that the international community has turned its back on the Afghan refugee crisis what can they do?

Two decades ago, I visited Istanbul to report on the 15th Turkish general elections held on Nov. 3, 2002, for Daily Pakistan. I managed to escape my busy reporting schedule to discover Istanbuls history, culture and amazing evening life around the old city in the Sultanahmet district. One rainy and freezing night, I had met a local taxi driver and his Pakistani friend who showed me a small migrant camp full of South Asians ready to go to Europe.

A small room was packed with youngsters mainly from South Asia who were desperate to go to Western Europe through Greece. There, everyone had an emotional story to tell me, but everyone was fearful as they may not see daylight again due to potentially drowning at sea on their impending journey. Many had reached Istanbul through the Iranian mountain range called Chaand Tara in Urdu (which translates to "as high as the moon and stars" in English).

I broke down into tears after listening to their heartfelt stories of struggle, injustice and ill-treatment at home and en route to Europe to make it to a new homeland. I couldnt turn away from the tales of the suffering of young people and wept after learning how many of them had to pay a huge price for this journey, leaving everything behind.

Unfortunately, like the arms trade, human trafficking is a profitable business that benefits many fat cows. Its not a secret anymore, many in the streets of Pakistan's Quetta city and Iran's Zahedan know a way to Europe through Istanbul, be they Afghan refugees or poverty-hit jobless youngsters from Asia.

Why is the migrant crisis emerging around the globe? One after another humanitarian crisis has unfolded in recent years that disturbed bilateral relations between Europe and Turkey.

For the current Afghan refugees' crisis, like Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Libya, the reason is pretty simple as it has resulted from regional military conflicts. Unfortunately, the bitter truth is that competition for regional hegemony between Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, France and some Middle Eastern countries have led to wars.

Two decades on, migration is still a challenge for Turkey, Iran and Pakistan. Despite the best efforts by these countries' governments, migration continues to affect diplomatic ties between Europe and Turkey.

At present, Turkey is hosting the world's largest refugee population of around 4 million, while neighboring Pakistan is home to 3.5 million Afghans along with Iran that accommodates 780,000 Afghans. Besides, according to a BBC report, an estimated 3.5 million Afghans are currently internationally displaced within the country.

The real challenge ahead is how to avoid a mega-disaster resulting from a failing economy in Afghanistan that leaves no choice for Afghans other than to leave. If the world community is serious about resolving the refugee crisis, it should discourage and halt arms supplies to rebel groups, stop private military and affiliated groups such as Blackwater and warlords, and avoid interfering and intervening in other countries' domestic politics. Imagine, a day when the world's major powers stop imposing their style of democracy, controlling poor nations through the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and avoiding taking natural resources through unfair means. We would have no humanitarian crisis, nor people leaving their motherland to become second and third-class citizens in faraway places.

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Is the world failing the Afghan migrants challenge? | Daily Sabah - Daily Sabah

After struggling with the migration crisis on European Unions (EU) eastern borders and Belarus attempts at provocation, 12 EU countries have proposed fast-tracking policy changes related to migration and the policing of external borders. Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania have begun building new border structures equipped with surveillance systems, as well as monitoring their borders with Belarus.

In turn, Hungarys Prime Minister Viktor Orbn has addressed an open letter to Ursula von der Leyen demanding reimbursement for maintaining Europes fragile stability and putting exemplary measures in place in order to protect it. This has raised the question of how long the European Union will continue to refuse to fund barbed wire and new border fences?

Over the course of the three decades following the end of the Cold War and the fall of the Berlin Wall, European countries have built fences and protective structures six times the length of the toppled Berlin Wall. In 2015, the construction of such structures on external borders cost EU countries 238 million. Hungary alone spent 1.64bn in 20152016 on keeping out migrants and refugees attempting to enter from the Balkans. In 20212022, the installation of barbed wire on the Belarusian border will cost Lithuania 152 million and Poland 353 million.

But how effective are these walls and fences in contemporary Europe? They are only effective as symbols demonstrating that politicians are taking measures to eliminate threats real and imagined posed by migration flows, migrant traditions, and lifestyles that do not fit the dominant local culture. However, in the long term, this strategy will be damaging to both the EUs economy and reputation.

In the minds of politicians and ordinary people who support such measures, defensive structures are intended to stop unwanted migration from countries where incomes are low to countries with higher living standards. They cannot, however, put an end to global inequality, solve the problem of poverty, or discourage people from seeking a better life. To put that in context, Reece Jones has shown that the GDP of countries which erect defensive structures around the perimeter of their borders is on average five times higher than the GDP of countries where migrants originate. To solve the problem of illegal migration, a long-term plan is needed, one that eliminates the motivations and reasons behind this movement.

European diplomacy has already succeeded far more than the armies of individual EU member states and their fences on the borders in curbing the threat of migration on the EU border with Belarus.

Experts proved long ago that increasing opportunities and routes of legal immigration, including regulated access to the labour market for foreign workers, is highly effective in the struggle against unauthorised migration, and that diplomacy is more effective in solving issues of security and border protection.

European diplomacy has already succeeded far more than the armies of individual EU member states and their fences on the borders in curbing the threat of migration on the EU border with Belarus. Following a meeting between the foreign ministers of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, the Uzbek government has confirmed that it is willing to cooperate with the European Union and ban transit flights carrying citizens of Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Yemen to Belarus. Other countries in the region have also agreed to boost cooperation on security and border protection, curb people-smuggling according to the EU-Central Asian agreement and receive financial backing from the EU.

In 2019, the European Union Institute for Security Studies predicted that EU borders would be increasingly vulnerable because of growing migration flows and the criminalisation of cross-border movement. It warned that third countries may attempt to use mass mobility as an instrument of geopolitical influence, and called on the EU to reflect on methods of preventing hybrid attacks and provocations linked to migration, while also preserving freedom of movement within the Schengen Area.

The announced measures diverge in many ways from the declared goals. They also contravene EU humanitarian law.

Yet, as the situation on the border between the EU and Belarus has shown, no concrete scenarios, preventative measures, or mechanisms for fending off such hybrid attacks within the EU have been developed. In December 2021, the European Commission proposed measures for preventing the political manipulation of migration flows on its eastern borders for the first time. The plan aims to provide Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland with the operational support necessary for ensuring security and a humane, well-organised and dignified approach to managing migration flows that respects the fundamental human rights of those crossing through Belarus.

The announced measures diverge in many ways from the declared goals. They also contravene EU humanitarian law. In particular, the European Commissions plan allows Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland to increase the registration period for asylum seekers to four weeks, whereas the EU Qualification Directive on international protection sets out a registration period of three to six days in such cases (10 days in situations of mass migration).

The plan also gives the migration agencies of Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland the right to accommodate asylum seekers in special centres, where only their basic rights are respected for a period of up to 16 weeks, and to limit their right of appeal. In light of the latest legislative changes introduced by the Latvian and Polish parliaments, which repeal the right to asylum in cases where the request is made immediately after crossing the border or where the border is crossed illegally, the mass movement of people on the external borders of the EU is very likely to become a destabilising force for Europe as a whole.

At present, Poland, Hungary, the Baltic nations, and other member states of the EU that share borders with non-EU countries see only one way of stemming the flow of migrants and securing their borders putting up new walls and fences since they have so little trust in EU diplomacy and economic leverage. But, without Europe-wide understanding and implementation of humanitarian procedures such as the right to asylum, the problem cannot be solved. The use of migration flows as an instrument of geopolitical influence over EU countries will only continue to gain momentum in the years to come.

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Fences on the border can't be Europe's future - IPS Journal

UK Border Force staff report that they find fake ID documents daily, for which there is a maximum penalty of ten years in jail.

Figures compiled from think-tank Migration Watch UK have revealed that more than 2,000 people a year use fake documents when attempting to enter the UK.

UK Border Force staff report that they find fake documents daily, with 21,256 false passports being discovered by Border Force in the decade leading up to 2020.

Immigrants found using fake passports could face up to ten years in prison if action is taken.

Prosecutions have decreased since the year 2013 from 1,200 to around 300 in 2021, when the UK ceased taking ID cards from the EU.

Alp Mehment, spokesperson for think-tank Migration Watch UK, said: Presenting false and fraudulent documents is nothing new.

"What is new and not lost on traffickers and fixers is that the absence of genuine documents, and even lying to an official, makes little difference to whether an illegal entrant is allowed to stay.

The Home Office said: People using false documents will be refused entry to the UK . . . Through the New Plan for Immigration we will be implementing an electronic travel authorisation scheme . . . to block the entry of those who present a threat to the UK.

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Migrant crisis: Over 2,000 people a year use fake passports trying to enter UK - GB News

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In early 2021, 33-year-old Sri Lankan student Wishma Sandamali died while in a Japanese detention centre. Sandamali, who came to Japan in 2017, had sought protection from domestic violence, only to be arrested and incarcerated for overstaying her student visa.

While in the Nagoya Regional Immigration Services Bureau, a stress-induced stomach condition contributed to her losing 44 pounds. Sandamali was vomiting blood before she died, reportedly of emaciation.

Her tragic ending wasnt inevitable; medical professionals had advised granting her provisional release to relieve her stress. But immigration authorities ignored these pleas, denying her medical care.

In response, small numbers of Japanese took to the streets of Tokyo and Osaka to demonstrate against her treatment, and a petition signed by some 93,000 people demanded transparency on the conditions that led to her death. Recently released footage clearly showed Sandamalis physical decline and the authorities failure to seek treatment, even as she became unresponsive.

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Punitive approaches to managing immigration are damning from a human rights standpoint. But in Japan in particular, criminalizing asylum seekers and stigmatizing immigration is also contributing to an existential crisis comprising a fast-aging population, declining fertility, and a shrinking economy.

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Japans Asylum Problem

Since the end of World War II, when Japan shifted from being a multi-ethnic empire to a nation-state with a supposedly homogeneous population, foreigners have been subject to disciplinary regimes of persecution, deportation, and incarceration.

In the 1950s and 1960s, for example, Japanese police targeted Japans long-term resident Koreans, who numbered 650,000 at the time. Tokyo branded Koreans unassimilable. Ethnic Korean schools were forcibly shuttered, Korean men and women were subjected to stop-and-search practices, and the government pressed Korean families to self-deport for North Korea. Many who left for Kim Il Sungs DPRK were never heard from again.

Sandamalis death, which made her the 18th foreigner to die in Japanese immigration detention since 2007, continues a historical pattern of institutionalized malign neglect toward unwanted foreigners. Tokyos immigration policies are now characterized by the prolonged detention of asylum seekers (over a year in many cases) and woefully low asylum acceptance rates (0.4 percent of claims in 2019).

In 2019, Japan contributed more than $125 million to the UNHCR the U.N. agency tasked with protecting refugees putting it among the top five donors in the world. But its checkbook humanitarianism is at odds with the reality that Japan rarely accepts asylum requests.

In 2017, 19,000 individuals requested asylum in Japan, fleeing persecution, conflict, and hunger in places such as Myanmar, Syria, and Sri Lanka. Yet Tokyo granted refugee status to only 20 applicants. The Japanese public appears largely to support a tough approach to refugees, with only 18 percent of respondents to an immigration and refugees survey agreeing that refugees could successfully integrate into their country.

In short, Japan is one of the worlds least friendly nations for asylum seekers. And this is despite a demographic crisis that is already impacting the countrys social and economic realities.

Japans Demographic Time Bomb

Japan is experiencing a crisis. With a median age of 48.4 years, its population is the oldest in the world. In stores across the country, adult diapers now outsell baby diapers by 2.5 times.

Its also a shrinking country, with its population of 127 million expected to contract by over a quarter by 2065.

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These demographic shifts will have dramatic social and economic impacts. Fewer Japanese will be able and willing to work. Those who continue in the workforce will likely be older, less productive, and will hold tight to jobs that might otherwise be yielded to younger workers.

An aging population also means a larger percentage of society dependent on elder care. Specialized geriatric nursing is costly. Japan is already dependent on migrant workers to staff its agricultural, manufacturing, and caregiving sectors jobs unappealing to young Japanese. As the need for healthcare grows, so will the demand for low and semi-skilled caregivers, medical technicians, and nurses. Inevitably, the demand for workers to fill undesirable jobs will need to be met by increasing migrant labor.

So, how long can Japan hold off providing the solution to its demographic crisis?

Certainly, Tokyo doesnt yet appear ready to resort to migrant workers at the level required to make a difference to the lives of elderly Japanese. Policymakers are pursuing alternatives that include encouraging women to enter the workforce in greater numbers. Its possible that more women working jobs previously dominated by men will boost tax income and encourage economic growth. But its also possible that more women in breadwinning roles may further contribute to the countrys low fertility rate and long-term economic decline.

Another possible solution is the introduction of robot workers to do basic care-giving roles for geriatric patients. But while early studies report robots may relieve some loneliness in older adults, they are not designed to replace human carers who are capable of a range of important caregiving tasks besides basic entertainment.

Which takes us full circle. Without distinct policy level changes, Japans super-aging society is likely to continue its economic decline and demographic contraction. What this means for the future of the country is yet to be seen, but experts warn of a ticking time bomb counting down to financial collapse.

How these demographic shifts will impact national security is also unclear, with some predicting a security renaissance, comprising a more robust, capable military. Others note that a shrinking and aging populous will inevitably reshape security strategies; Tokyo has missed its military recruiting targets every year since 2014.

The contradictions are laid bare when, for example, Tokyo announces measures designed to attract young, low, and semi-skilled workers to theagriculture, construction, and hospitality sectors in rural Japan. At the same time, men and women like Wishma Sandamali are subject to treatment more suited to criminals than someone trying to escape an abusive relationship.

Never Again?

Ultimately, future policy solutions will need to encourage a shift in social attitudes toward immigration. Whether its international students, low skilled labor migrants, or asylum seekers, the long-term detention of foreign nationals facing deportation should not be acceptable.

On December 5, the day that would have been Sandamalis birthday, mourners gathered at Myotsuji Temple in Aichi Prefecture to celebrate her life. Holding Sandamalis remains, her sister Poornima lamented, If she were alive, today would have been a happy and enjoyable day. Id like for something like this to never happen again.

Migrants human rights must be protected, and migrant deaths in state care must not be considered business as usual. But with asylum applications likely to rise as the pandemic recedes, and no firm changes on the horizon with regard to Japanese refugee policy, theres no guarantee that Sandamalis will be the last death in custody.

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Japan's Self-Destructive Immigration Policy The Diplomat - The Diplomat