Looking for Gaps – Monitoring Return Operations from Poland to Georgia
Pass of the monitor allowing to access airport return infrastructure; Source: Tomasz Sieniow®
On January 5, 2024, Tomasz Sieniow, member of GAPs project research team at the Centre of Migration Research (CMR) at University of Warsaw, conducted a monitoring of return operation from Poland to Georgia.
The Polish Commander-in-Chief of the Border Guard authorised four NGOs to monitor return operations, namely: the Rule of Law Institute, Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, Foundation “Ocalenie” and Halina Nieć Legal Aid Centre. The monitoring functions performed by these organisations and the costs incurred by these monitoring institutions are not financed by the state. This means that monitoring is rather limited in scope, mostly covering the airport phase of the return operation.
Monitor at the Okęcie Airport; Source: Tomasz Sieniow®
Tomasz Sieniow was involved in the monitoring of the implementation of the return decision (with the entry ban) of a Georgian citizen. It was the first air return operation conducted in Poland in 2024. The returnee had agreed to return to the country of origin on the commercial flight without Border Guard escort. Monitoring of this operation allowed Tomasz, GAPs team member - who is at the same time a trained monitor at the Rule of Law Institute - to collect information about additional elements of the return infrastructure, including the cell at the airport used by many returnees to leave their messages to the world.
Image1: Photo of the wall of a cell at the airport used by many returnees to leave their messages to the world; Source: Tomasz Sieniow®
Image2: Photo of the wall of a cell at the airport used by many returnees to leave their messages to the world; Source: Tomasz Sieniow®
The CMR at the University of Warsaw will be responsible for collecting data on receptions of migrants returned to Georgia, which is scheduled to take place in February 2024.