The Belarus-Poland crisis: Bordering on trafficking? Exploring the crime of Trafficking in Human Beings in a border context.

Abstract

My master thesis, titled "The Belarus-Poland Crisis: Bordering on Trafficking?", explores whether the treatment of migrants at the Belarus-Poland border between May and November 2021 can constitute the crime of Trafficking in Human Beings (THB) under EU criminal law. It then examines the challenges in applying the non-punishment provision to potential trafficking victims in this context.

The Belarus-Poland border crisis arose after Belarus allegedly facilitated irregular migration to the EU as a form of political pressure, following EU sanctions. Migrants, primarily from conflict-affected regions, were lured to Belarus with deceptive promises by travel agents and then coerced by Belarusian border guards to cross into Poland under harsh conditions. To establish whether trafficking occurred, the thesis applies the EU Anti-Trafficking Directive, which defines THB through three elements: the action and means(together the actus reus), and the purpose (mens rea). The EU legal framework is extensively discussed in chapter 3.

The legal analysis in the next chapter focuses on two groups of actors, travel agents and border guards, to establish whether their conduct can amount to trafficking in human beings. As the thesis focuses on categories of offenders rather than individual actors, to fully explore whether the mens rea requirement can be fulfilled is unfeasible. As a result, the primary focus of this thesis lies on the actus reus, though indications of the presence of a mens rea are also considered. In the analysis, it is also discussed whether using migrants for geopolitical pressure could qualify as exploitation under the EU Anti-trafficking Directive.

The final part of this thesis discusses challenges in the application of the non-punishment principle to potential victims of human trafficking at the Belarus-Poland border. Article 8 of the EU Anti-Trafficking Directive ensures that trafficking victims are not prosecuted for crimes they were compelled to commit as a result of the trafficking. Challenges arising from the application of this principle regarding the interpretation across EU Member states are discussed, as well as practical challenges that can have a significant impact on the protection of migrants that were victims of trafficking.

Finally, in the conclusion, this thesis concludes that the actions of travel agents and border guards may amount to THB under EU law and emphasizes the need for a human rights-centered approach to trafficking, to ensure the protection of victims and accountability for traffickers. All in all, this research contributes to the academic debate on human trafficking in the context of migration crises and highlights the evolving nature of trafficking in human beings.