“The welcome that Ukrainian refugees have received should be the rule.Solidarity must be guaranteed to everyone"

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The Russian invasion of Ukraine has sparked international indignation and a feeling of understandable and shareable compassion towards the population attacked and threatened by the bombings.Across Europe and beyond, countries have opened their borders to welcome Ukrainian asylum seekers and refugees.

Read also >> Fleeing from Ukraine:first the children, then the white women and men and finally the Africans

The decision unanimous of the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) to invoke Directive 55 of 2001 on temporary protection, adopted over twenty years ago in the aftermath of the conflict in the former Yugoslavia, gave Ukrainian citizens (with a limit, however, to those of other nationalities coming from the Eastern European country) access to various services social issues such as housing, education and healthcare by debureaucratizing each nation's laborious asylum process.

The response to the crisis that broke out on February 24th is very different from what we have witnessed in recent times when those asking for protection were (and still are) Middle Eastern and African refugees who are also fleeing from threats, torture, conflicts, regimes and violence.From situations that in most cases put lives at risk.Two for all Syria and Afghanistan.

Read also >> 'They are civilized', 'We are not in Afghanistan':media and political racism over the war in Ukraine

It is enough to shift your gaze slightly to the borders, even of the same states that allow entry to Ukrainian civilians, to understand that the treatment reserved for all those who flee their country is not the same.

This is what happens, for example, on the border between Poland and Belarus, with an ongoing emergency that sees people dying rejected, and in Turkey, with a forgotten crisis, where since 2016 entry into Europe has been prevented for those he fled conflict and abuse and survives in difficult, sometimes desperate conditions.

Why is the answer different?And can the world manage to address multiple humanitarian crises at the same time?

Between Poland and Belarus, institutionalized inhumanity

A few days after the start of the Russian "special military operation" in Ukraine, Poland he approved the extension of the ban on entry into the border areas with Belarus, extending until June 30 the impossibility of accessing the three-kilometer forest area, what the Polish government calls the "red zone" and the refugees and activists the "jungle".

Since last May, thousands of migrants from Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt, Sudan, Yemen have tried to reach Poland, Lithuania and Latvia through Belarus, triggering a humanitarian crisis.In the border region with Poland alone, since September 2021, they have been found at least nineteen bodies of alleged migrants, according to data collected by Info Migrants.

Read also >> On the skin of migrants.What is happening on the border between Belarus and Poland

The EU has accused the dictator Alexander Lukashenko of having provoked a sort of "hybrid war" - in response to the sanctions applied to his country - by encouraging Middle Eastern migrants to reach the capital Minsk and favoring their arrival at the borders of the three countries belonging to the 'Union.

In the first months of 2022, attempts by those trying to enter Polish territory decreased significantly.At the end of February, border guards recorded 66 in 48 hours.In November 2021, every night, there were at least two hundred.

In the last few days the number it grew again due to the recent closure of the remaining migrant centers in Belarus and foreigners leaving Russia.From 21 to 27 March, five hundred attempted.

"We have the feeling that the order is to reject everyone, regardless of personal situation or state of health," he said to AFP Monika Matus, activist of Grupa Granica, the Polish association that coordinates a network of activists and NGOs to help migrants.“These people can neither count on medical care nor on other types of assistance,” he explained.

In the enormous warehouse located in Bruzgi, near the border with Poland, where many refugees had found shelter from the freezing winter, there remained mainly families with very young or sick or disabled children and pregnant women.Belarusian officials “evicted” them.These desperate families are trying to cross the forest, braving the cold (the temperature is -3 degrees), hunger, dangers and the police.

As reported in a post published on Facebook by Grupa Granica, on March 25 the Polish border guards stopped a Kurdish group of eighteen people, including nine children and a completely paralyzed 20-year-old boy, who was carried on their shoulders for sixteen kilometers.Many need treatment.

There are numerous families fleeing from conflict zones who have set out with the hope of entering Europe to care for their sick children.When they survive days of fasting, in the open, the dangers of the forest, they are often separated and sent back to Belarus where they are threatened with torture and death.

It is believed that there are currently several hundred migrants in the "jungle" who risk losing their lives in the absence of help.Among them were various minors, some just a few months old.On this border line, unlike the one further south, Polish citizens, as well as associations, are prevented from providing assistance.

It is a situation that clashes, in a deafening way, compared to what we see on the border with Ukraine, not only because it does not protect the lives of people in difficulty in any way but because it criminalizes those who undertake to do so.NGOs have in fact described the ongoing legal proceedings against their activists who provided help as "unprecedented".“Serious accusations have been made for providing humanitarian assistance or shelter or taking these people out of the woods to a place of safety,” he stated Jaroslaw Jagura, lawyer at the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights.“Encouraging illegal border crossings is punishable by eight years in prison,” he said AFP.

However, the spokeswoman for the Polish border guard, Anna Michalska, provided a completely different version of what is happening, explaining that only migrants heading to Germany are being rejected.Michalska insisted that anyone who needs it can consult a doctor and that those hoping to stay in Poland can "always" apply for asylum.

For the NGOs they are all "lies".According to Grupa Granica and the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, police arrested four volunteers on March 22 for helping a family with seven children in the forest.A prosecutor accused them of aiding and abetting illegal immigration.On March 25, the court rejected the request for preventive detention.On the same day, police arrested another volunteer while she was sitting in her car.The legal proceedings against the five volunteers are suspended.

«The contrast with the Ukrainian border, where over two million people have been welcomed into Poland in just over a month, could not be starker.Two of the volunteers arrested near the Belarusian border had previously offered themselves for the Ukrainian one without problems", he declared Lydia Gall, senior researcher on Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans at Human Rights Watch (HRW).

«The authorities should not decide who to treat humanely based on skin color or nationality.Everyone arriving in Poland, regardless of the border they cross, should have their rights respected.The authorities should immediately stop persecuting volunteers at the Belarusian border and ensure that humanitarian aid is provided to those in need,” he stressed.

The same opinion was expressed by the independent Polish MEP Janina Ochojska, member of the Group of the European People's Party (EPP), in an interview issued to the agency Say.«On the border between Belarus and Poland we know that there are at least a hundred refugees who risk dying in the forests, and the volunteers who try to help them are criminally prosecuted by Polish justice.The European Union must put pressure on the Warsaw government to end the double standard on the treatment of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers," he said."Why - asks Ochojska - are the same rights granted to Ukrainians denied to refugees from Belarus, coming from Iraq, Syria, Yemen or Afghanistan, countries which for years have been affected by wars and violence like Ukraine today?".The MEP's fear is that in the woods, on the Belarusian side, there could be many victims, all those who were unable to overcome the winter frost, hunger and hardship.Concern was also expressed about the five and a half meter high border wall - work on which should be completed next June - which will cross the Białowieża protected forest, a UNESCO world heritage site, partially destroying it.

Ochojska also recalled how, when the emergency broke out on the Belarusian border, the Polish government sealed the borders, explaining that if it had allowed the refugees to enter, thousands of them would have arrived and it would not have been possible to accommodate them, while the news these days he says something completely different.

The MEP also highlighted another critical issue.The rapid start of asylum procedures for Ukrainian refugees has caused the suspension of those underway for other non-European applicants who are waiting in migrant centres, "real dirty and overcrowded prisons, where minors who are not guaranteed access also reside. 'instruction".Last November Ochojska visited the center of Kostrzyn, three hundred kilometers from Warsaw, which hosts four hundred minors.It is estimated that there are at least five thousand refugees in centers of this type.“They are people fleeing wars, many suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and these places are unhealthy.Many have attempted suicide, even minors,” he concluded.

Two weights, two measures.In Poland and the rest of the world

In a short time, Poland has gone from rejecting migrants from the Middle East to opening its arms to those arriving from Ukraine.A U-turn by the government which has raised some doubts among some citizens:borders closed for Syrian Muslim men, open for white, Christian and Ukrainian women and children.

Poland's different treatment of refugees is even more evident when compared to what happened with the Syrian emergency, when the population was fleeing carpet bombings, forced disappearances, regime torture, massacres and rapes.From the civil war.At the time, the Polish authorities – with the installation after the triumph in the legislative elections of the Eurosceptic, populist and nationalist right-wing Law and Justice party – refused to accept the distribution of refugees from the Middle East by the European Union.Political representatives – how told from Political, five years ago – declared that welcoming Muslim refugees would change their culture and radically lower the country's level of security.They wouldn't give in.They would not have welcomed them.During the election campaign Jarosław Kaczyński, party leader and de facto ruler of Poland, he had warned citizens before going to the polls:the migrants would have brought "all sorts of parasites and protozoa, which...although they are not dangerous to these people's bodies, they could be dangerous here."

Since Syria's civil war began eleven years ago, 6.6 million refugees have fled the country.Only one million were welcomed into Europe (emblematic the current situation of the Syrians in Denmark whose residence permit for asylum has been revoked because it is wrongly believed that they are no longer in danger at home and therefore, in fact, they find themselves in limbo in expulsion centers for an indefinite period with the threat of deportation looming over their heads).The significantly lower numbers compared to those of the current crisis are the indicator of less empathy, a different welcome and reduced integration opportunities, in Poland as in the rest of the world.

Yet it was “the largest humanitarian and refugee crisis of our time and an ongoing cause of suffering,” as declared by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Filippo Grandi.

It is estimated that today approximately 14.6 million Syrians are in need of humanitarian assistance and more than half the population is displaced from their homes, including 5.6 million refugees living in neighboring countries and over 6.9 million internally displaced people.Women and children represent more than two-thirds of refugees.

Syrian refugees have sought asylum in more than 130 nations, but the vast majority live in neighboring countries such as Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt.Turkey alone hosts over 3.7 million and in Lebanon around one in four people is a Syrian refugee.

Turkey and Afghans in search of a future, a forgotten crisis

In eastern Turkey, more precisely in the province of Van, where the mountains extend to Iran, a six-metre high and 295 km long wall is under construction which will close the border with the Islamic republic.

In winter the snow covers the entire landscape with a spectacular view.Nonetheless it is a place of death, where the temperature drops to -20 degrees.It is the stage of a journey of desperation that can only be completed on foot.A crucial point for those leaving for Turkey - especially from Afghanistan - with the aim of reaching Europe.

Read also >> From human traffickers to the use of advanced control and surveillance technologies:the business of the Balkan route

The risks that people run when crossing this area are shown in all their cruel evidence in spring, when the snow melts and dozens of bodies emerge, including pregnant women and children.Of their failed escape attempts, only a number remains engraved on a gravestone in an unnamed cemetery in the city of Van, thousands of kilometers from Afghanistan.

TO tell it for the Guardian is Anushka Asthana, deputy political editor of ITV News.

Meeting those who survived that stretch of the journey (which does not always represent the end of the journey and of a nightmare) helps you understand what you are willing to do in order to escape your country.

They are stories that have in common oppression, fear, violence in the place where they lived before facing a destiny that for many knows no future.

Fatima, a law student and make-up artist in Afghanistan, is hiding in Van today after fleeing from the Taliban who beat her twice and covered her with bruises.After a terrible journey in Iran, traffickers demanded thousands of dollars to take her to Turkey and drop her off at a border crossing that was impossible to cross.

The young woman and the group who was with her had to climb the wall under construction and ended up in a five-metre pit from which they emerged by climbing on each other's shoulders, before running away to escape the Turkish police.Arriving in the city in a fake ambulance thanks to other traffickers, Fatima was taken to one of the so-called "shock houses", where refugees are held for weeks or even months in inhumane conditions.There she was threatened with rape.

Turkish authorities often raid these apartments to foil traffickers' plans and transfer asylum seekers to centers designated for them.For those who flee in search of protection there is no difference:both places are dangerous.

Read also >> Migrants:humanity crushed in the Europe-Türkiye agreement

Interviewed by Asthana, the governor of Van defended his choice to adopt a hard line on immigration.Turkey is on edge and the migration crisis needs a global response.But there are those who think that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is exploiting the phenomenon to his own advantage to deal with a series of internal problems, such as inflation and the economy in the balance, thanks to the agreement with the EU on management of migrant flows in 2016 which brought six billion euros to the state coffers.

Refugees as a tool?The response must be compact, human and political

Throwing open the doors to Ukrainian refugees invites an inevitable comparison with the treatment of those from Syria, Afghanistan and other countries.Around 16,000 people remain in refugee camps in Greece and many of them are suffering from hunger because they do not have the same rights that are guaranteed to Ukrainians.But the answer to double standards cannot be to close the doors to them. He writes it The New York Times in an editorial published on April 1.

Cities in Poland, Moldova and Romania have transformed, putting pressure on schools, housing, hospitals and government assistance programs.Warsaw, a city of about 1.6 million people, is now home to more than 300,000 Ukrainian refugees, many of whom sleep in hastily set up reception centers.Shelters overcrowded with women and children are, among other things, targets of human trafficking and criminal exploitation.

The refugees are not an uncalculated error in Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine, writes the American newspaper.The indiscriminate bombings targeting civilian infrastructure are part of a broader strategy to demoralize the population and relocate residents to neighboring countries, so that their presence can become a destabilizing element, as happened on the border between Belarus and Poland thanks to Lukashenko.

Over time, discontent toward Ukrainian refugees may rise and then increase.The people who have begun to welcome them may turn against them, putting pressure on their respective governments to force Ukraine to end the war on terms set by Russia.

Zamosc is a small city in eastern Poland, with a population of 60,000.Its historic centre, a UNESCO world heritage site, is dotted with Renaissance churches and colorful facades, a far cry from the horror present across the border.

Like many towns in Poland, it has turned into a refugee center in the last two weeks.In a few days, 35,000 people arrived, most of them moving to the western side.But others remain.A thousand beds have been made available including reception centres, schools, private homes and a sports club.

For the mayor, Andrzej Wnuk, this is a huge effort on the part of the city and he has already warned that the welcome has its limits.«The Poles seem infinitely ready to give, but one day all this will end», he said to BBC News.«We thought there would be a first wave of refugees and that we would then receive significant support from the government and the EU, but in the end we were left alone.We need financial help or the quality of our hospitality will drastically decrease", specified Wnuk.

“We need the world's help,” added Barbara Godziszewska, a municipality employee currently serving hot meals.«Everyone looks at us and says 'well done', but that's not enough, someone has to tell us what we should do with the refugees.If the numbers continue like this, I fear they will go to the streets to sleep because all the hotels are full,” he said.

Relieving this pressure by supporting the countries hosting refugees would make the plan to put pressure on states less effective by using those who flee as a weapon to undermine the support offered to Ukraine by the EU.

Not only must it be done but also quickly.The EU has allocated an initial figure of seventeen billion euros of funds, intended for recovery from the pandemic and for programs to promote social and economic cohesion, which will be spent on the reception of over 3.8 million refugees who arrived between 24 February and 28 March another countries.“Half of them are minors,” explained the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, who then said that the number of arrivals is decreasing but that we still need to continue planning because we need to be ready to welcome millions more refugees.

A large chunk of these funds should go to those states hosting larger numbers of refugees.

But reception efforts must not be limited to Europe, continues the New York Times.Canada, which already hosts a large Ukrainian community, will allow the entry of an unlimited number of people fleeing the war who can remain in the country for at least two years.Even Japan, always reluctant, agreed to open its borders to Ukrainians.Likewise the United States which, for the moment, will welcome 100,000 refugees.

As the world enters a period of great instability, its leaders can no longer ignore the need for a coordinated but above all compassionate response to those fleeing war and other desperate situations.Ukraine's humanitarian emergency should act as a forerunner for those to come, going beyond the legitimation and political exploitation of racism and xenophobia which have repeatedly left borders closed to humanity.

“Solidarity must be guaranteed to everyone”

Ameenah A Sawaan, 31 years old, born in Damascus, is an activist of the Berlin-based association The Syria Campaign.

«The authorities should be more organized with strong Ukrainians than they should have learned from the 2015 refugee crisis.The communities are welcoming and supportive, but what is happening concerns politics.How politicians intervene and how they react to welcoming new arrivals.It should be at least a little different than what has happened in the past,” Sawaan told ad Al Jazeera.

«The response that the Ukrainian refugees received was excellent and should be the normal human and political reaction to any tragedy.Moving forward, welcoming refugees, regardless of where they come from, should be the rule", continued the Syrian activist.

“They should be supported at every step and this is what we should try to keep in mind as we pressure European countries to play a better, more open and supportive role when dealing with migration from places where there are horrific wars.Solidarity must be guaranteed to everyone."

Preview image away Grupa Granica 

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