{"id":21559,"date":"2026-08-04T17:54:45","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T15:54:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/?p=21559"},"modified":"2026-08-04T17:56:34","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T15:56:34","slug":"migration-as-a-political-tool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/migration-as-a-political-tool\/","title":{"rendered":"Migration as a Political Tool: The 2021 EU\u2013Belarus Border Crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article is a contribution from a project by students at Maastricht University. It was written in English and has therefore been published as such on our website. Photo: Lithuania-Belarus border (Wikimedia Commons<\/a>).<\/em><\/p>\n

The views expressed in this opinion piece are strictly those of the author and do not represent the official position of Maastricht University.<\/p>\n

When people hear the word \u2019Belarus\u2019, most think of a proxy state that acts as an extension of Russia. What is often overlooked, however, is that Belarus\u2019s strategic positioning and its close alliance with the Russian Federation are particularly significant in the context of European migration security. The unique geographical location of the state led by \u201cEurope\u2019s last dictator\u201d<\/a> enables it to influence migration flows into the EU and act either as a partner or as a perpetrator of hybrid attacks. This ability came to the fore in June 2021, when the Lukashenko regime orchestrated a migration crisis<\/a> by facilitating the arrival of migrants from the Middle East and North Africa at the EU\u2019s eastern borders. Although their exact number is unknown, thousands of migrants were lured by Belarus with false promises of entry into the EU, only to be abandoned in a border zone and forcibly pushed across the border.<\/p>\n

What is most striking about this episode is the language used by political leaders to describe those most affected by it. Rather than being recognised as victims of Belarus\u2019s actions and people in dire need of the EU\u2019s help, migrants were instead portrayed in the public discourse as a threat, as instruments of a hybrid attack perpetrated by a malevolent foreign actor. Because of this choice of discourse, the management of this wave of migration became a purely security-related issue, effectively overshadowing the humanitarian aspect of migration policies.<\/p>\n

Most of the migrants were initially directed towards Lithuania<\/a>, but after the latter passed a law authorising the pushback of all \u2018irregular\u2019 migrants to Belarus, Poland became the main focus of Belarusian action. Poland itself responded by declaring a state of emergency in the border zone, blocking aid organisations, the media and civil society from entering the area, and making any attempts to help people stranded in the Bia\u0142owie\u017ca Forest a criminal offence. Despite the seriousness of these events, they remain largely unknown to the wider public, and we believe this to be a cause for serious concern. Crises of this scale should not go unnoticed, and, as a matter of principle, those involved ought to be held accountable for their actions.<\/p>\n

The incident quickly escalated into a humanitarian crisis. Both the Belarusian and Polish authorities have been accused of serious abuses<\/a> and of \u201cping-ponging\u201d<\/a> the migrants across the border. The UNHCR and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) jointly issued a statement<\/a> calling on the two states to de-escalate the situation and ensure the safety and human rights of migrants and refugees. Despite the clear humanitarian implications of the crisis, the EU has used overtly militarised language<\/a> to describe the situation as a hybrid attack.<\/p>\n

By treating migrants as tools to be used at will by third parties, a crucial perspective is lost: these individuals are not threatening weapons, but people seeking a better life and international protection against political persecution in their home countries. By tacitly condoning the way migrants were treated by the national authorities of its Member States, the EU appears to have partly set aside the norms and values it has historically championed. Although we recognise the need for a swift and decisive response to this politically motivated crisis<\/a>, the EU\u2019s focus should have been on providing adequate assistance to those who suffered the most as a result of this incident: the migrants themselves. Strengthening Europe\u2019s border security is, in and of itself, a necessity, but human rights should be prioritised and treated as a sine qua non<\/em> or European measures and legislative acts.<\/p>\n

The number of migrants affected may have fallen dramatically over the years, but public awareness of these events and of the serious implications of the EU\u2019s securitised discourse remains worryingly low. Furthermore, our documentary<\/a> shows that multiple perspectives need to be taken into account in order to fully comprehend the social, political and humanitarian significance of this crisis. We therefore strongly advocate both raising awareness of this crisis and a more nuanced analysis of this often-misunderstood episode. The exploitation of migrants is certainly reprehensible, but so too is any response that disregards not only established norms and values, but also European and international law.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dit artikel is een inzending vanuit een project van studenten aan de Universiteit van Maastricht. Dit artikel is in het Engels geschreven en daarom ook zo geplaatst op onze website. Foto: Lithuania-Belarus border (Wikimedia Commons). The views outlined in this opinion piece are strictly those of the author and do not represent the official stance […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":21560,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-democracy","location-belarus","region-eu","region-oost-europa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21559"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21559\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21562,"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21559\/revisions\/21562"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}