Past Event

NEW Watch the recording from the webinar here!

The Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence (JMCE) is pleased to host a webinar, The Belarus-Poland-Lithuania Migrant Crisis: Context and Concerns. A panel of experts will offer their perspectives on understanding this crisis, while identifying questions that remain to be answered.

In fall 2021, relations between Belarus and Poland grew tense, as a number of people from Middle Eastern countries reportedly entered the borderland between Poland  (a member of the European Union) and Belarus, Russia’s neighbour to the northwest. Two other EU member countries, Latvia and Lithuania, also expressed concerns about their borders with Belarus. At this time, details remain murky as to the circumstances under which these individuals arrived in Belarus, and we do not have a complete picture of how border guards on either side have handled the presence of the migrants; independent media have had little access to the border zone. However, it is apparent that many migrants originally arrived by air into Belarus. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said publicly on November 10 that Belarus had deliberately created the crisis and was engaging in “hybrid attack by instrumentalizing migrants from the EU-Belarus border.” While Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenka acknowledged on November 11 that there were thousands of migrants on the border, he claimed that it was Belarus’ territory that was in danger due to ‘provocation.’  Thus as 2021 nears an end. a confrontation has appeared between two countries, one a member of CSTO, the other a member of NATO – while the migrants themselves face mounting hardships in the border zone. 

Panel Participants:

Moderator:

Professor Crina Viju, Director, Institute of European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, Carleton University

Panelists:

Professor David Marples, Department of History and Classics, University of Alberta

Professor Piotr Dutkiewicz, Department of Political Science, Carleton University

Professor Andrea Chandler, Department of Political Science, Carleton University

Professor J. Paul Goode, Institute of European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, Carleton University

Professor Achim Hurrelmann, Department of Political Science, Carleton University

Professor Joan DeBardeleben, Institute of European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, Carleton University

REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED.

This is an activity of the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence at the Centre for European Studies with the support of the Erasmus + Programme of the European Union and Carleton University.

Share: Twitter, Facebook
Short URL: https://carleton.ca/ces/?p=12868