Qualifying for international and national protection under the Polish legal order: Some remarks in the context of the war in Ukraine

Abstract

The Russian Federation's actions against Ukraine in February 2014, having - at the time - the form of hybrid warfare, followed later by an armed assault that took place on 24 February 2022, have resulted in an unprecedented influx of refugees from across Poland's eastern border. As Poland faced a major challenge (also in legal terms), additional regulations had to be introduced to supplement the refugee protection standards already in place under national and international laws. The purpose of this paper is to identify the prerequisites (conditions) stemming from the catalogue of protective instruments provided for in Polish legal regulations that can be taken advantage of by Ukrainian citizens after the Russian attack of 24 February 2022. The thesis of this study is that Polish protective mechanisms are consistent and complementary, and that, insofar as they apply to Ukrainian citizens, they fulfil international obligations under the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, adopted on 28 July 1951 and secondary European Union law, mainly Directive 2011/95/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011.