The Iraqi Foreign Ministry has set up a committee to investigate the incident.
Today, Wednesday, Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Ahmad Sahaf said, “Two Iraqi migrants have frozen to death on the Belarusian Polish, and the Iraqi Foreign Ministry has formed a committee to investigate and bring back their bodies.” The two migrants are not the first to lose their lives on the freezing borders between Poland and Belarus.
“The migrants died in Belarus because Iraq does not have an embassy in the country,” Sahaf added.
The Iraqi Embassy in Moscow is working to bring back the bodies of the migrants, and a committee has been formed to follow up and get back their bodies, according to the foreign ministry.
In autumn 2021, after covid19 restriction was loosened, thousands of Iraqis took to the borders between Belarus and Poland to cross into Europe; among them were 4000 Kurdish migrants who were trapped on the border as most still are almost two years on, when the Polish government mobilized its army and fortified its borders, preventing and migrant from stepping into its country.
Poland described the migrants as Belarusian agents aiming to disturb peace and security in the country.
Many migrants trapped in the freezing border forests have no access to shelter or food, and some have either disappeared or died in Belarus. Some reports suggest that migrants detained were also tortured by the polish border guards.