First modification:
UNHCR, the United Nations body for refugees in the world, reported that there are already a million civilians who have left Ukraine and had to go to another country. Poland, with more than 575,000 people, is the country that welcomed the most Ukrainians. In addition, adding the internal displacements, there are two million people who had to leave their homes. The estimate of four million affected would exceed the Balkan War on the continent.
The war that Russia started over Ukraine unleashed a migratory problem for the local population, which was forced to exodus in order to safeguard itself. This Thursday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees – an entity dedicated to the protection of migrants around the world – reported that there are already one million Ukrainians who have moved to other countries.
“In just seven days we have witnessed the exodus of a million refugees from Ukraine to neighboring countries,” High Commissioner Filippo Grandi said on Twitter. “For many millions more, inside Ukraine, it is time for the guns to fall silent, so that life-saving humanitarian assistance can be delivered,” he added.
In the coming days, he notified, a face-to-face assessment will be made and guaranteeing support for the situation in Romania, Moldova and Poland, the three nations that have received the most citizens from the neighboring country.
The latter has been, by far, the most affected by the migratory wave of Ukrainians. Of the million inhabitants who left the country, more than 575,000 have crossed the Polish borders. The Interior Ministry assured that Poland will give “shelter to any person whose life is at risk, regardless of their nationality.”
“The number of refugees grows exponentially hour by hour. Until the conflict stops us, the Ukrainians will continue to flee,” Grandi said. According to UNHCR estimates, the number of Ukrainians leaving the country could reach four million.
In just seven days we have witnessed the exodus of one million refugees from Ukraine to neighboring countries.
For many millions more, inside Ukraine, it’s time for guns to fall silent, so that life-saving humanitarian assistance can be provided.
— Filippo Grandi (@FilippoGrandi) March 2, 2022
If this forecast is fulfilled, the war in Ukraine would become the trigger for the largest migration crisis in Europe since the Second World War. The last major conflict was the Balkan War in the 1990s, where three million people were displaced in the nations that made up the former Yugoslavia.
However, it would not reach the War in Syria that, since 2011, around six and a half million people left their country. According to UNHCR records, more than 3.7 million settled in Turkey; while Germany and Sweden are home to 600,000 between them.
Meanwhile, the sum of inhabitants who had to leave their homes in Ukraine increases to two million, with approximately 900,000 people moving internally to other cities in the country, said the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, during a urgent debate in the Human Rights Council.
Before the outbreak of the international conflict, UNHCR had only 53,500 refugees and asylum seekers of Ukrainian nationality, of whom 36,500 were in Europe.
The Ukrainian exodus precipitated European solidarity and complaints of discrimination
Due to the completely abnormal and urgent case of the war in Ukraine, the European Union and third countries on the continent gave a sign of humanitarian commitment to bring immediate responses to civilians fleeing the war.
International agencies urged border countries to create facilities for the entry of migrants, to which countries such as Poland, Hungary, Romania, Moldova and Slovakia responded by removing anti-Covid restrictions – only for those from Ukraine – that were for foreigners.
For their part, from Warsaw they set up accommodation programs in private homes; while Bratislava provided free public transportation and job options. Last Tuesday, the European Union promoted the debate on ensuring protection for the victims for three years, with permits to live and work, in any of the 27 members of the bloc.
However, European kindness to Ukrainians contrasted with hostile regulations towards migrants from other regions, such as Africa and the Middle East, sparking accusations of racial discrimination.
African, Asian and Oriental citizens escaping from Ukraine had major inconveniences to be admitted in the host countries: parallel queues and slower speed in advancing administrative procedures.
Through social networks, foreign students showed the impossibility of boarding the trains leaving the country. “They stopped us at the border and told us that blacks were not allowed. But we could see white people passing by,” said Moustapha Bagui Sylla, a student from Guinea.
These cases made the African Union, through a statement, make an international claim. “Reports that Africans are being treated unacceptably differently would be outrageously racist and would blow up international law. In this regard, the presidents urge all countries to show the same empathy and support for all people fleeing war, regardless of their racial identity,” they said.
with EFE