We must learn from the ongoing Ukraine refugee crisis; that any nation can be a victim of war.
Back in 2015, when Syrians and Africans were trying to enter Europe, they were responded with razor blade fences, rubber bullets and border security dogs. But in 2022, white Ukrainians are met with warm hugs, hot tea and three-year asylum privileges.
Where was this same energy when Syrians were in the position Ukrainians are currently in? Where was this energy when hundreds, if not thousands of African migrants were drowning in the Mediterranean sea just to step foot on European soil?
More notably, why is the western media’s response to the Ukrainian refugee crisis different from its response to the migration of international citizens fleeing war from their home country? Why does the western media paint war and humanitarian crisis to be a more suited scenario in the middle east and Africa but strange in Europe?; When in reality, no continent on the planet has war at the heart of its history as it does.
But let us even shift from the double standards of refugee protection in the remote parts of the world and look within the crisis in Ukraine. Since the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops, there have been reasons for mass eviction and displacement of citizens living in Ukraine.
According to the UN, over 1 million people have fled Ukraine. By March 2 2022, only seven days into the war, 874,000 people were estimated to have fled to neighbouring countries.
Today, over 1 million people have fled Ukraine to neighbouring states, such as Poland, Hungary, Belarus, Romania, Moldova, Slovakia and Russia. Among these alarming stats are numerous African students and people of colour navigating this new daunting ordeal in a foreign land who continue to cry out against discrimination at checkpoints, railway stations, hotels, and borderlines. I guess black and brown lives matter! But not in every situation-Even when their lives and that of their families are at stake.
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While it is heartbreaking that the world is plunged back into a dark moment in human history, we can only hope and pray this ends with the new peace talks concurrently taking place between Russia and Washington DC.
We must learn from the ongoing Ukraine refugee crisis; that any nation can be a victim of war. War and the catastrophic effects on families, economy and civilisation are not limited to race, colour, religion. Any nation can be a victim of war. In those weak moments when they do need help, they should not be met with prejudice.
