The Observer view on a united approach by the EU and UK to the refugee crisis | Observer editorial

As human misery mounts at Europe’s borders, a compassionate, joined-up solution to migration is required

Imagine being trapped at night in a freezing forest between Poland and Belarus. There is no shelter, no food, no warmth. If you try to head west, the Polish army pushes you back. If you try to return the way you came, Belarussian border guards bar your path. And this happens again and again. You are stranded. There is no way out.

For untold numbers of refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and other crisis zones, this Kafkaesque nightmare is playing out right now, with sometimes fatal consequences. Polish authorities report more than 15,000 attempts to cross the frontier into the EU since August, rising to above 500 a day in recent weeks. The UN and human rights groups claim that Poland is breaking the law by refusing asylum to these migrants. The European commission is angry that the area has been closed to its officials and the media. But Warsaw is undaunted. Parliament voted last week to build a permanent €350m (£295m), Trump-style Belarus border wall.

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