Illegal Border Crossing and Associated Offences in the Light of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus

Abstract

This paper addresses the important current problem of illegal crossing of a national border, which since autumn 2021 has been particularly intense on the Belarusian–Polish section of the border. It has been serious enough to pose a security threat not only to Poland, but also to the rest of Europe. This article contains a discussion of the solutions provided for in the 1999 Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus that concern illegal border crossing and associated crimes, i.e. organization of illegal migration and violation of the period of prohibition of entry into the territory of the country. For the purposes of the article, it was assumed that the scope of the regulations in question is casuistic and restrictive, and provides little guarantee of protection of the national border of Belarus. The legal analyses that were conducted generally confirmed the assumed evaluation of these solutions.