Human rights situation on Poland-Belarus border 'alarming': senior official

BRUSSELS - The humanitarian and human rights situation along Poland's border with Belarus is "alarming" and urgent action is needed to protect the lives of people stranded there, the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatovic, said on Friday.

In a statement issued at the end of her four-day visit to Poland, Mijatovic called on the Polish government to allow media and humanitarian aid organizations to access the border to end human suffering and violations of human rights.

Since August, thousands of migrants, most of them from war-torn countries in the Middle East, were stranded at the border between Belarus and its neighbors, seeking to enter the European Union territory. Clashes broke out last week between Polish soldiers using water cannons and migrants throwing stones.