According to the statement made at the Committee of the UN General Assembly on Social, Humanitarian and Human Rights in New York, illegal crossings of the EU's external border supported by the Belarusian state are deliberately putting at risk endangering the lives of third-country nationals.
The statement was signed by the United States, the European Union, the UK, Australia, Japan, Canada, and South Korea.
The signatories expressed their deep concern over the Belarusian regime's lack of cooperation with international human rights organizations and the total impunity of human rights violators.
They also condemned the repression of oppositionists, the media, national minorities, and civil society representatives.
"The Belarusian hybrid operation is an example of the first migration crisis in modern Europe, which was deliberately planned, stimulated and organized by a third country, using methods and means hitherto typical only for criminal organizations," said Krzysztof Szczerski, permanent representative of Poland to the United Nations.
"The authorities in Minsk treat migrants instrumentally as a weapon in their fight against the West," he added.
