migration Archives

“Ukrainian citizens are not a burden, but a benefit to Poland”

An interview with Maciej Duszczyk, an employee and adviser on migration to the Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland, and a professor at the University of Warsaw. Interviewer: Andrii Kutsyk.

May 14, 2026 - Andrii Kutsyk Maciej Duszczyk

Ukraine’s post-war labour dilemma: Who will fill the jobs?

Discussions are beginning to grow with regards to the shape of Ukraine following the end of Russia’s current invasion. This is particularly true regarding the economy, as well as the labour force that will power reconstruction. While experts all agree on a need for new thinking, the future in this sphere remains uncertain.

February 23, 2026 - Stanislav Storozhenko

Double exclusion. How is it to be a queer migrant from Eastern Europe in Poland today?

LGBTQ+ rights in Belarus and Ukraine have remained static for years. The fear of coming out persists, both in one's home country and now within the diaspora abroad. Many queer migrants hide their sexuality, citing political or economic reasons for moving. Although Poland still has a long way to go, its relative openness, access to EU anti-discrimination frameworks and integration into European institutional life create better conditions for social progress and visibility.

February 22, 2026 - Sviataslaŭ Kruk

Losing people, losing growth

Over the past five years, Belarus has faced a shrinking labour market, which is a serious problem for its economic future. While demographic factors have played a role in this regard, it is the large-scale emigration of Belarusians that has had the most damaging effects.
December 7, 2025 - Anastasiya Luzgina

The quiet return of the diaspora – why more and more Bosnians are moving back home

Bosnia and its neighbours have traditionally faced issues with large segments of their populations moving abroad. However, this could well be changing. Attracted by improvements in quality of life, many diaspora members are thinking of returning to their homeland.

August 13, 2025 - Erdin Kadunić

Poland is defending Europe from Russia’s hybrid war

EU cooperation with Warsaw must strengthen as Russia’s systemic threat becomes clear.

April 4, 2025 - Hugo Blewett-Mundy

Romanian community establishes roots in rural France

Westward migration in Europe is often associated with settlement in urban areas. Despite this, many workers from the region have found employment in small rural communities. The French town of Gramat and its surroundings, for example, have seen the arrival of a few hundred Romanians over the past decade.

Since the 2010s, the Causse of Gramat in south-western France (part of a group of vibrant, shimmering limestone plateaus) has witnessed the appearance of a substantial Romanian population. At first, the newcomers came in response to recruitment for work positions in slaughterhouses. Then, opportunities diversified, relatives joined and the community grew. First believed to be a temporary movement, permanent settlement was just around the corner for many. Today, Romanians represent one of the largest immigrant communities (if not the largest) in the area, bringing an Eastern European facet and thus diversity to this French countryside.

November 21, 2024 - Paul Mazet

Migrants on the border (of the Polish imagination)

What makes Poles help Ukrainian refugees yet indifferent to the fate of migrants on the Belarusian border? Is this determined solely by the right-wing propaganda, which portrays the Ukrainians in good terms and those in Belarus in essentially bad ones?

The release of Agnieszka Holland’s film The Green Border (Zielona Granica), which depicts the human drama of people pushed across the Polish-Belarusian border and the helplessness of activists willing to help them – helplessness resulting from the specific political decisions of the Polish authorities – has been met with unprecedented heckling and brutal attacks in Poland. The outrage of the country’s highest-ranking politicians from the United Right coalition was clear.

November 16, 2023 - Piotr Augustyniak

Russian migration during the war in Ukraine: reality and challenges in the host countries

The war in Ukraine has caused millions of people from the country to flee to various states in Europe. Despite this, there are also many Russians who have attempted to leave their own country following the full-scale invasion. This phenomenon has been met with different responses in various states near Russia.

September 21, 2023 - Nino Chanadiri

One country, two borders: how Poland differentiates narratives about migrants

Poland used various discursive practices to shape diverging social perceptions about two groups of migrants/refugees entering Poland: those crossing from Ukraine, on the one hand, and those crossing from Belarus on the other. The Polish government’s portrayal of the crisis on the Poland-Belarus border as a hybrid war, whilst helping Ukrainian refugees, was presented as being in line with Poland’s national interests.

Poland has been witnessing two very different waves of migration on its eastern border: the arrival of millions of Ukrainian refugees since February 2022, and the arrival of people, predominantly from the Middle East and Africa, through Belarus since June 2021. These two groups are quite different in their nature and origin and arouse different reactions both on part of the Polish authorities and broader society. While those fleeing Ukraine have been warmly welcomed, people trying to enter Poland via Belarus have been predominantly denied the right to apply for asylum and pushed back into Belarusian territory.

April 28, 2023 - Givi Gigitashvili

From emperors to refugees: Russian emigration to Armenia and Georgia

Moscow’s war in Ukraine has not only forced millions of Ukrainians to flee their home country but has also led hundreds of thousands of Russian citizens to seek exile abroad. Among the most popular destinations for Russians are two South Caucasian republics: Armenia and Georgia.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in late February, several hundred thousand Russians have fled the country. Some sources even estimate that more than one million Russian citizens have already gone into exile. Among them are some of the country's biggest celebrities, such as Alla Pugacheva, who settled in Israel, and music stars like Face and Zemfira, who both moved abroad out of fear of persecution for their anti-war activism.

July 14, 2022 - Svenja Petersen

Ain’t no wall high enough – as security trumps humanity on the Polish-Belarusian border, what is the fate of EU migration policy?

As Poland has been one of the primary victims of the crisis on the EU’s eastern border, one would hope that this experience would make it reconsider its hitherto staunch opposition towards a robust, solidarity-based EU migration policy. Instead, the go-it-alone approach of the Polish government and its reliance on physical barriers and pushbacks have undermined Poland’s human rights record, and demonstrated a missed opportunity to show the full potential of inter-EU cooperation. The fact that the Union itself has done little to change Poland’s approach, and has failed to bring migration policy into the picture, poses serious moral questions and risks future vulnerability to migration weaponisation.

January 31, 2022 - Agnieszka Widłaszewska