The humanitarian dilemma reaches Europe’s doorstep: The Belarus/Poland border crisis

The article employs the theoretical framework of the humanitarian dilemma in the context of a political non-violent conflict. We analyse the conditions for the humanitarian dilemma where within the structure of mass media and well-established international human rights regime, actors – mainly human rights organisations seeking to identify human rights violations – can bring about the unintended and obverse consequences of escalating human right violations. We then focus on the political conflict that emerged between the European Union and Belarus, which resulted in the stranding of thousands of refugees in the border area between Poland and Belarus. We conclude by asking how to resolve, or at least moderate, the dilemma.