Fundacja Ocalenie, a Warsaw-based charity that has supported refugees for 25 years, said the June 20 commemoration had “a bittersweet taste” as Europe erects “higher walls, xenophobic propaganda and fear” instead of solidarity.
Ocalenie’s board member Kalina Czwarnóg urged Europeans to replace fear with “solidarity, care and smart support for those starting anew in Poland”.
Meanwhile, human rights NGO Amnesty International Poland wrote on X that “Poland is routinely breaking the rights of people on the move”.
“We call for the immediate repeal of rules suspending asylum and for every applicant to have safe access to an individual procedure. That is a human right,” the organization said.
Poland currently hosts just 3,131 recognized refugees and 17,046 beneficiaries of subsidiary protection, official data show.
Under a law activated on 27 March, border guards may refuse to register protection claims for 60 days in areas deemed subject to “instrumentalized migration” by Belarus and Russia. Parliament extended the measure for two more months in May.
In February, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) warned that the proposed rules violated both international and European asylum law.
After the statute was adopted, it was branded by Amnesty International “a flagrant violation of international law”, saying it codifies unlawful returns and has taken the case to UN and EU bodies.
The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights called the suspension unconstitutional, noting neither EU nor Geneva conventions allow a blanket asylum ban.
Warsaw says the curb is vital to stop Minsk and Moscow funneling migrants through the forested 400-km frontier to destabilize the EU. Prime Minister Donald Tusk argues Poland must “combat the inflow” rather than undermine rights.
Ukraine influx reshapes Poland
Three years after Russia’s invasion, 4.2 million Ukrainians enjoy temporary protection across the EU; Germany hosts 1.2 million and Poland the second-largest share.
Polish data show 993,000 Ukrainians – mostly women and children – hold national identification PESEL numbers under the special war-assistance law, while another 462,000 have work-related residence permits and 92,000 permanent or long-term EU cards.
In total, 1.55 million Ukrainians now have valid stay documents, making up 78 percent of all foreigners in Poland.
Warsaw says it spends 4.2 percent of GDP on support for Ukrainian refugees, but public sympathy is cooling: a March 2025 CBOS poll found only 50 percent of Poles back continued admission of Ukrainians, down from 81 percent two years ago.
Worsening public opinion
Ukraine has become a flashpoint in Poland’s presidential race. Far-right libertarian Sławomir Mentzen won 14.5 percent on an openly anti-Ukrainian platform that favors an “agreement” with Vladimir Putin, while president-elect Karol Nawrocki opposes EU and NATO membership for Kyiv and wants to curb refugee aid, though he supports continued military help.
Centrist Rafał Trzaskowski – the most pro-Ukraine contender – also pledged to scale back social benefits, a shift analysts say reflects hardening voter attitudes.
Meanwhile, Polish police are investigating another far-right candidate, Grzegorz Braun (6.3 percent), for tearing down a Ukrainian flag at a campaign rally in April.
Applications for international protection in Poland jumped 79 percent to 17,000 in 2024 and reached 7,471 in the first five months of 2025, dominated by Ukrainians (4,551) and Belarusians (1,283). While the statutory decision deadline is six months, asylum-seekers can receive shelter, food, health care and language classes during the process.
Globally, forced displacement hit a record 122.1 million by April 2025, up two million in a year, the UN refugee agency said this month. Sudan, with 14.3 million uprooted people, overtook Syria as the worst-affected country, followed by Afghanistan and Ukraine.
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Source: TVP3 Warszawa, TVN24, Amnesty International, Euronews, BBC, Helsinki Foundation For Human Rights