Thousands of citizens of Iraq, Syria and other war-torn countries are stuck at the Belarus-Poland border, hoping to enter the European Union. Instability resulting from the conflict with the Islamic State and the Syrian civil war as well as poor economic prospects are compelling people to make the risky journey. 

Iraqi citizens began traveling to Belarus in eastern Europe last summer. The former Soviet republic is not in the European Union, but borders EU members Poland and Lithuania. Belarus is allowing migrants from Iraq, Syria and elsewhere to venture to Poland from Belarusian territory, but Poland is denying them entry. The EU is accusing Belarus of using the migrants as punishment for EU sanctions on the Belarusian government, a charge Belarus denies. There are also reports of Belarusian troops facilitating entry and even forcing the migrants across the border. 

Many of those stuck at the border are from Iraq’s Yazidi community, an ethno-religious group long persecuted for its religious beliefs. Arshad Hassan is from the predominantly Yazidi region of Sinjar, also called Shingal, in western Iraq. The region is disputed between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government. In 2014, the Islamic State attacked Sinjar, killing and enslaving thousands of Yazidis.

Sinjar was liberated in 2015 by the KRG’s Peshmerga forces. Many Yazidis have still not returned, however, and continue to live in displacement camps in the Kurdistan Region. Much of the city still has not been rebuilt. Hassan said Sinjar is uninhabitable.