Results of refugees’ stay at Bruzgi summed up

Summing up and analysing the experience gained in providing assistance to migrants in the logistics centre on the Belarusian-Polish border was the main goal of the round table discussion, held in Grodno

“The most important thing is not only to identify our strong sides: how well we worked and what we did, but also to pay attention to the weaknesses,” noted the Secretary General of the Belarus Red Cross, Dmitry Shevtsov, describing the tasks facing the participants of the event. “And they certainly were, because it was the first practical experience of this kind for our country. Previously, we could not even imagine in our calm Belarus that we would be affected by the migration crisis. We turned out to be the third, transit party, but at the same time, we had the largest amount of work related to migrants. If we talk about what was not done properly by the Red Cross, this is intelligence. When we came to help people in the forest, we faced a lot of difficulties. These include access roads, the arrangement of transport, and the impossibility of accounting for the receipt of humanitarian aid by one migrant. We understood that someone receives several packages, and someone does not receive at all. There were also problematic issues: caring for women and children, providing people with hygiene goods and many other things.”

The representative of the Red Cross informed that during about four months of the migrants’ stay at the border, more than 256 tonnes of humanitarian aid were distributed to them, attracting over Br3.2m.

Dmitry Shevtsov underlined the efforts made by the regional authorities of the Grodno Region in the current situation on the border. On the very first day, they organised everything necessary to consolidate all possible forces for further assistance to the people left homeless.