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Where Are You? Missing Between Belarus and Poland

November 29, 2024

More and more people are taking the migratory route through Belarus - and disappearing without a trace. Relatives from their home countries, such as Iraq, Syria and Egypt, are looking for them.

https://p.dw.com/p/4mEaf
Search appeals for Mohammed from Erbil, who is missing in the border area between Belarus and Poland.
Image: DW/RBB

Polish volunteers offer their support in what is often a distressing endeavor.

Barbed wire and tank barricades in front of the Polish-Belarusian border fence
Image: DW/RBB

The migration route through Belarus to Poland is an established one, despite the presence of a border fence, heavily armed guards and reports of increasing brutality in what is effectively an exclusion zone. Although it may be considered safer than trying to cross the Mediterranean or the Atlantic, people following this route to Europe are also dying with increasing regularity.  

The swamp and jungle landscape between Belarus and Poland
Image: DW/RBB

They perish in the forests and swamps between Poland and Belarus, thousands of kilometers away from their home countries and desperate families who often have no idea what’s happened to their loved ones. But one group of people living in the Podlaskie border region is concerned with the fate of the dead and missing. They try to help the relatives to identify their family members. The film follows the story of Mohammed Sabah’s family, as they try to find what’s happened to him.

A cell phone screen shows Mohammed with thick warm clothes in Belarus
One of the last photos of MohammedImage: DW/RBB

Mohammed left his home in Erbil, the capital of the autonomous region of Kurdistan in Iraq, in the fall of 2021. In November 2021, he got held up in the neutral zone between Poland and Belarus and after a few weeks, was pushed back to Belarus by Polish border guards. Mohammed contacted his family for the last time at the beginning of December. He kept in touch through his uncle Rekaut, who’s lived in London for 15 years. There was no sign of life from Mohammed until October 2022, when a video emerged, allegedly showing Mohammed crossing the border fence into Poland.  

Mohammed's uncle Rekaut
Mohammed's uncle RekautImage: DW/RBB

All hope now lies with Mohammed's uncle Rekaut, who maintains contact with the authorities and NGOs on behalf of the family and goes to Poland whenever he can. In Erbil, Mohammed's family desperately hopes he’s still alive - but at the very least, they just want to know his fate.
 

Broadcasting Hours: 

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WED 18.12.2024 – 01:15 UTC
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