„Sorry guys, we need to temporarily suspend Geneva convention and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union”.
Those guys were hailed as ones to bring democracy and rule of law after PiS ran it into the ground. They were called „centre-left” by almost all western media. Ahahahaha.
It’s not a Geneva Convention. Separate treaty.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_Relating_to_the_Status_of_Refugees
I think that there’s some clause that permits non-use of the treaty. I was reading that treaty text back during the European migrant crisis a bunch.
kagis
https://www.unhcr.org/sites/default/files/legacy-pdf/3b66c2aa10.pdf
Yeah, Article 9:
Article 9
PROVISIONAL MEASURES
Nothing in this Convention shall prevent a Contracting State, in time of war or other grave and exceptional circumstances, from taking provisionally measures which it considers to be essential to the national security in the case of a particular person, pending a determination by the Contracting State that that person is in fact a refugee and that the continuance of such measures is necessary in his case in the interests of national security
But that’s supposed to be specific to people on a case-bye-case basis person, not a general suspension. Hmm.
The EU’s Schengen Treaty has a clause that permits temporary general suspension of the Schengen Area freedom of movement, and a bunch of EU members used that, but I don’t think that there is an analog to that in the Refugee Convention.
looks further
WP does say that there aren’t really any consequences to violating the treaty, and that countries have done so in the past.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_Relating_to_the_Status_of_Refugees
There is no body that monitors compliance. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has supervisory responsibilities but cannot enforce the convention, and there is no formal mechanism for individuals to file complaints. The Convention specifies that complaints should be referred to the International Court of Justice.[19] It appears that no nation has ever done this.
An individual may lodge a complaint with the UN Human Rights Committee under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights or with the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, but no one has ever done so in regard to violations of the convention. Nations may levy international sanctions against violators, but no nation has ever done so.
At present, the only real consequences of violation are 1) public shaming in the press, and 2) verbal condemnation of the violator by the UN and by other nations. To date, those have not proven to be significant deterrents.[20]
The EU apparently mandates member state conformance in this treaty. However, given the unpopularity of refugee immigration and the negative political consequences for political parties, I’m not sure how much practical ability Brussels has to impose penalties on member states. Like, we already had the attempt to invoke Article 9 (different article 9 from the one above, the one to strip European Union members of their political powers) during the European migrant crisis.
EDIT: Oh, I bet I know what Poland is gonna do. They’re not gonna actually suspend the treaty, whatever they’re calling it. They aren’t gonna use Article 9 (of the Refugee Treaty). They’re gonna use Article 31.
Article 31
REFUGEES UNLAWFULLY IN THE COUNTRY OF REFUGE
The Contracting States shall not impose penalties, on account of their illegal entry or presence, on refugees who, coming directly from a territory where their life or freedom was threatened in the sense of article 1, enter or are present in their territory without authorization, provided they present themselves without delay to the authorities and show good cause for their illegal entry or presence.
This already came up before during the European migrant crisis. If someone comes to your country but not directly, then you’re free to penalize them for illegal entry. Basically, no refugees are coming directly to Poland. The EU tried plugging this hole with the Dublin Regulation. It didn’t work all that well.
EDIT2: Apparently in 2026, the Dublin Regulation is supposed to be replaced with this. Could alter the picture legally. Dunno if it has any mechanism for suspension, as the Schengen Treaty did, or not.
EDIT3: Ah. You can buy your way out of conformance, for one, under the 2026 replacement:
The Dublin III Regulation, which determines which member state is responsible for processing any individual asylum application, will be reformed. Countries where migrants first arrive will newly be able to relocate a total of up to 30,000 migrants per year to other EU member states. The Pact will institute a “mandatory solidarity mechanism” where all EU countries must either physically host asylum seekers, or assist in other ways such as financially or by providing extra personnel. A country can pay 20,000 Euros for every migrant it does not accept under the mechanism.
Yeah, most international treaties on human rights are toothless because there is no mechanism for enforcing them. There will be no penalties from Brussels because EPP rules EU and KO (main ruling coalition party) is part of EPP, simple as that.
because EPP rules EU and KO is part of EPP
Wait, isn’t that exactly why laws are enforced by courts and not parliaments?
Yes and no. As an example, there’s an EU court ordering Poland to legalise same-sex marriage yet the centre-left government can’t even get it through the lower house of the parliament. Court can’t do much other than set some administrative fees that are so low you can ignore them. There could be some pressure applied by cutting EU funds etc but somehow it doesn’t happen to Poland. Curious, no?
Yeah, my country (czechia) is buying its way out and i think quite a few other CEE countries are as well.
Shame, you got baited.
Most Poles will probably support it. Tusk similar to other liberals only has to be scratched to show their true nature but nobody was really deceived.
Waah waah those bad libruls. No shit Poles will support it - Belarus is literally flying in thousands of people and pushing them towards the border. When that happens to your country, we’ll see how open it will be to “asylum seekers”. The thing is literally done to create conflict by people like you who don’t know the situation that’s happening over there and only read the headlines.
We are perfectly capable of processing couple thousands of asylum requests. No papers? Go away. But you have to be allowed to make the request and that hasn’t been possible for years. It’s basic human compassion and Christian values.
Go away where exactly? Explain that part to me. Belarus doesn’t take them back, they force them on Poland. So now you have a ton of people with no papers, no history, nowhere to go. The period in Europe where “human compassion” and “christian values” ruined countries is over. Poland has no obligation to allow anyone to enter, especially not people forced on us.
You live in the real world, not a utopia where everyone is happy and cuddly and a great neighbor. Poland borders two hostile nations that would love to see it fall. That’s why Poland supports Ukraine so hard, that’s why Poland is preparing for war. This situation is created by Russia to attack Poland, so it’s on Russia to stop what it is doing, not on Poland to stop defending itself.
This is not „this or this”. Poland is 20th largest economy in the world, we can take couple thousand asylum seekers because we just took two million. If someone wants to abuse our good will then, and only then, we can throw it into jail so bad they’ll want to return home. Nobody comes here for social welfare because we have almost none so why are you so afraid?
If you think human compassion ruins us then you want us to became as our enemies are and we’ve already lost.
There is no point in talking to you - you ignore 100% of the issues that are there and go for an emotional “oh ur evulll”. Someone already wants to “abuse our good will” - that’s Russia literally pushing people at the border. Poland doesn’t need to put anyone in jail - they need to be stopped on the other side of the border. You still haven’t explained how are you going to identify, extradite people comming from a hostile country, without papers. Nobody is afraid - because what is happening is what needs to happen. So take your “human compassion” and put it where it belongs - in your perfect imaginary world. For the rest of us living on Earth, measures need to be taken to protect the border.
Why are you so scared? I know you’re downvoting me because you don’t like what you hear but did anyone hurt you or is it just irrational fear of people who you’ve never met? You don’t address my points but keep repeating I’m naive. How naive are you to fall for what populist right is feeding you?
