The Białowieża Forest: A Crossroads of Security, Human Rights, and Environmental Challenges at the EU’s Edge

🌿 A UNESCO forest. A border wall. A humanitarian emergency that EU law is struggling to address.

HDRI's new Migration & Security paper examines what has been unfolding at the Białowieża Forest, on the Poland-Belarus border, since 2021.

Author Guglielmo Maria Barbetta traces the overlapping consequences of border militarization: systematic pushbacks denying migrants access to asylum, documented violence against people stranded in dangerous conditions, and a fortified wall cutting through one of Europe's last primeval forests, built without any prior environmental impact assessment.

As of February 2025, 89 people have died at this border.

The paper assesses these developments against international refugee law, EU asylum directives, and environmental protection frameworks, identifying where legal obligations have gone unmet.

The Białowieża Forest is unique. The questions this case raises about EU border governance extend well beyond it.

📄 Read the full paper here: