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Polish envoy urges UN action amid Belarus border crisis

17.11.2021 11:45
The international community needs to act before a deepening migrant crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border spins out of control, undermining the security and stability of the region, Poland's envoy to the United Nations has warned.
Krzysztof Szczerski
Krzysztof SzczerskiWojciech Olkuśnik/PAP

Addressing the UN Security Council on Tuesday, Krzysztof Szczerski said that "Poland strongly believes that now is the time for preventive diplomacy."

Earlier that day, 12 Polish border force members were injured during clashes with stone-throwing migrants encouraged by Belarusian authorities, officials told reporters.

"We need to act before the situation spins out of control and the security and stability of the whole region deteriorates further," Szczerski told the UN gathering.

Taking part in a UN Security Council debate on preventive diplomacy, Szczerski said that "conflict prevention efforts don’t make the headlines but their main goal is for conflicts themselves not to become such."

"The hybrid actions by the Belarusian regime cannot set in as a new form of triggering international crises," Szczerski said in his speech.

"We call on all those who stand behind the Belarusian regime to quit the policy of building tensions in favour of the policy of solving tensions," he added.

The United States and European members of the UN Security Council last week condemned Belarus for the “orchestrated instrumentalization" of migrants as tensions rose along the Polish-Belarusian border.

(gs)

Source: PAP