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

"I have personally listened to the appalling accounts of extreme suffering from desperate people -- among whom many families, children and elderly -- who spent weeks or even months in squalid and extreme conditions in the cold and wet woods due to these pushbacks," Mijatovic said.

"I have witnessed clear signs of their painful ordeal: wounds, frostbite, exposure to extreme cold, exhaustion and stress," she said.

"One woman was fighting for her life in a local hospital. Several people lost their lives. I have no doubt that returning any of these people to the border will lead to more extreme human suffering and more deaths. Every night and every hour spent in the borderland means real danger to their lives," she said.

The commissioner stressed that dealing with the current situation should not just fall on Poland alone. "This is a European issue, which requires a human rights-centered response based on solidarity and European values and standards."