The overview of the situation with transit refugees in Brest. The review was prepared by human rights organization Human Constanta on the basis of interviews conducted in Brest from November 2017 to April 2018. Human Constanta works with modern challenges for human rights in Belarus, including the protection of the rights of foreign citizens and stateless persons, as well as the topic of non-discrimination. Since September 2016, we have deployed the Refugee Assistance Mission in Brest, in March 2017, opened an office for counseling foreign citizens and stateless persons. The organization regularly monitors the situation in Brest and at the Polish border crossing point Terespol. Since 2016 the transit refugees stuck in Brest, most of them are Russian citizens from North Caucasus regions and Chechnya.
We produced 2 thematic reports on the situation “Invisible refugees on the border of Belarus and Poland” (September 2016 and 2016–2017). During the period from November 2017 to April 2018, we conducted a survey of persons seeking asylum in Poland. The interviews took place at the railway station of Brest and at the office of the organization, some of the questionnaires were filled by refugees (themselves).
