Poland: UNHCR welcomes decision on Chechens
Poland: UNHCR welcomes decision on Chechens
UNHCR welcomes Poland's decision last weekend to allow a group of 150 Russian Federation nationals from Chechnya to enter the country and seek asylum there. They are the first Chechens to be allowed to seek asylum in Poland in weeks. The Polish authorities had decided to bar Chechens from entering the country following the October 23 terrorist attack on a Moscow theatre by Chechen separatists. The decision sparked protests by the UNHCR and human rights groups. UNHCR has urged Poland not to close its doors to Chechen asylum seekers.
UNHCR hopes that the admission of 150 Chechens to Poland last weekend represents a permanent return of Poland's policy of open doors to Chechen asylum seekers. This year alone 1,638 Russian Federation nationals - virtually all of them Chechens - had asked for asylum in Poland.
UNHCR continues to be concerned about the situation in neighbouring Lithuania, which earlier this month barred 26 Chechens - mostly women and children - from entering the country and applying for asylum. UNHCR hopes that Lithuania will follow Poland's example and reopen its doors to Chechens.
![Poland. Refugees from Ukraine at the Kapelanka hostel](/sites/default/files/RF1261127_0.jpg "Tetiana (50) with her daughter Masha (12) from Ukraine. They live in Interhouse hotel which is a shelter for refugees.Tetiana fled her home in Dnipro, Ukraine in March 2022 with her daughter Masha. They lived next to a military unit that was under attack all the time. Tetiana was terrified when Masha shouted, "Mom, they're shooting." Masha has Downs syndrome and epilepsy. She had a panic attack.In Poland, they first lived near the border somewhere in a school turned into a shelter. Now they live in a hotel. Tetiana receives 500 zloty a month from the Polish state for Masha and a child's pension from Ukraine, which is why she is able to meet her basic needs on her own. "I miss home. I have a vegetable garden there. I dream of going back there one day," she says. But she adds that he is learning Polish just in case. In Ukraine, Tetiana was a dance instructor, and she would like to continue her job in Poland.Tetiana is now worrying about her parents who are on her way from Donetsk to Krakow.")
