A/HRC/53/26/Add.1 asylum in the European Union, specifically in Germany. Individuals with protection needs were identified within the group, including children aged from 2 months to 13 years, pregnant women, persons with disabilities and older persons. Since that time, migrants, including families with children, have regularly attempted to enter Poland by crossing its border with Belarus. 55. Restrictions were first imposed along the border area on 2 September 2021, under the declaration of a state of emergency by the President of Poland. The state of emergency, which was motivated by possible threats to security and public order, introduced an “entry ban” zone along areas within three kilometres of the border with Belarus, covering 183 localities in Podlaskie and Lubelskie Provinces. 56. Initially valid for 30 days, the state of emergency was extended on 30 September 2021 until 2 December 2021. Amendments were introduced to this legislation on 30 November 2021, shortly before the expiration of the state of emergency, providing for a “permanent state of exemption”, which further prohibited non-residents from entering the same 183 localities. New provisions authorized the Minister of the Interior and Administration to impose restrictions on freedom of movement similar to those imposed by the state of emergency in areas located within 15 kilometres of the border with Belarus, until 1 March 2022. 57. From 2 March 2022, Poland extended the law limiting access to the same areas adjacent to the Polish-Belarusian border until 30 June 2022.12 Starting in early December 2021, media outlets were given access to the exclusion zone after obtaining prior accreditation from local commanders of the Border Guard, but this access remained strictly regulated and journalists were closely accompanied and transported in official vehicles of the Border Guard along pre-determined routes.13 While the state of emergency was lifted on 30 June 2022, a prohibition to access a 200-meter-wide strip along 200 kilometres of the border remained, reportedly because of the ongoing construction and electrification of a steel border barrier. 58. Poland started the construction of a physical barrier through the protected forest along the Polish-Belarusian border on 25 January 2022, to “protect the national border and help counter irregular migration”. The President signed the law for its construction in August 2021. The barrier, which is made of steel and topped with razor wire, 5.5 metres high and 186 kilometres long and built on the land sections of the State border from the northern bank of the Bug river to the Polish-Belarusian-Lithuanian triangle, excluding watercourses. B. Continuing arrival of migrants through Belarus 59. Following the suspension of visas by the Belarusian authorities for targeted nationalities in November 2021 and the closure of the Bruzgi logistics centre on the Belarusian side of the border in March 2022, the situation at the border seems to have calmed down to some extent. However, as confirmed by several sources, a number of migrants remain stranded in the forest and subject to “pushbacks” from both sides. Reports indicate that foreigners continue to arrive in Belarus, although it is difficult to assess how many remain in the country. Unlike the movements in 2021, there is a newly established migration route through the Russian Federation and Belarus towards Poland, perceived by migrants as a safer way into Europe than through the Mediterranean Sea. This route, however, also attracts smugglers. 60. Attempts to cross the border continue to be detected on a daily basis by governmental authorities and civil society actors who provide humanitarian help to migrants in both countries. Similar to the situation in 2021, the presence of families and children among newly arriving migrants increased again over the summer of 2022 after a temporary decrease during 12 13 12 Reply from Poland to AL POL 3/2022 (received on 27 May 2022). Council of Europe, Commissioner for Human Rights, Third-party intervention under article 36, para. 3, of the European Convention on Human Rights, in the case of R.A. and others v. Poland, Application No. 42120/21, Strasbourg, 27 January 2022, available at https://rm.coe.int/third-partyintervention-before-the-european-court-of-human-rights-in-/1680a5527a. GE.23-06742