Feminist Emergency Service: urgent grant to support activists in Usnarz Gorny

About the group

Queer Tour is a collective of queer persons working for LGBTQ+ persons in Poland. It is engaged in raising awareness of the rights of LGBTQ+ people in the so-called “LGBT-free zones”. In cooperation with local queer communities, it conducts educational campaigns in localities where local governments have adopted homophilic, trans-, and queerphobic resolutions.

About the action

In August 2021, the Polish border guards deported 32 refugees from Afghanistan, who wanted to submit applications in Poland, to Usnarz Gorny at the Polish-Belarusian border. It was the first media-publicized pushback of refugees, conducted by border guards in Poland at the Belarusian border. The group, which included entire families, was held for two months in the forest in Poland, without access to legal or medical aid and wholesome food, without the possibility of applying for asylum. Refugee rights organizations have tried to intervene, but border guards drowned down their attempts to contact the Afghans.

As part of the Feminist Emergency Grant, Queer Tour will purchase materials and equipment needed by activists operating in Usnarz.

Grant amount: PLN 2400
Photo: Group’s own materials