- Dariia Pasko
Big world refugee test
Since the war started on the 28th of February, more than 4.2 million Ukrainians left the country, 10% of the overall population. That is a lot, especially compared to what was happening with Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan: "Already, the flow of refugees from Ukraine is far greater than the number from Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq who fled to Europe in 2015, upending European politics”. The refugee crisis is only in its early stage because mostly women and children are leaving the country. However, “opening the doors wide to European refugees raises an inevitable comparison to the treatment of refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, and other countries. About 16,000 people remain in refugee camps in Greece, and many of them are going hungry because they lack the same rights that are being guaranteed to Ukrainians. But the answer to a double standard cannot be to close the doors to Ukrainians.”
That derives an ethical question of treating people equally or, more accurately, how to decide whose problems are more important. Why other refugees did not receive the same support as Ukrainians? They also have lost their houses, their families, and their future.
I believe that the answer is that the situation in Ukraine developed so fast, and the humanitarian crisis unfolded so quickly, that it seems many are acting on human impulse without the intrusion of prejudice or ideology. They have treated Ukrainian refugees as refugees. But if the crisis does not find a quick resolution and Ukrainians are unable to return home, one can also see how refugees may be demoted to the status of mere “migrants.”
Neighborhood countries like Poland, Romania, and Moldova are hosting hundreds of thousands of immigrants, but we understand that they will not be able to help all Ukrainians in need, unfortunately. russia is using that to destabilize situation and put pressure on European government to stop supporting Ukraine to the full extent. As no one knows when the war will end, “the world enters a period of greater instability” and even though others help us right now, they may start to hate Ukrainians as immigration flows continues and lots of supply chains are broken. EU economy is now dealing with negative consequences of war which are supposed to motivate them to help to stop it as fast as possible. However, it may also lead to choosing “an easier way”: sending less weapons, not saying words “genocide” and “war”, denial in heavy armor and choosing to be more neutral. Technically they still support Ukraine, but not in the way support is required right now.
I hope my articles touch your souls and hearts at least for a second and make you think. I hope my efforts mean something. I hope I make the war clearer for you and I hope the following citation of Stepan Bandera is not just words for you, but also a reminder that we are still fighting and we are still on the edge of losing the country.
“And the time will come when one will say "Glory to Ukraine!", And millions will answer "Glory to the heroes!" - prophetic words that we can all hear today across the globe.
Sources
Editorial
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/01/opinion/ukraine-russia-war-refugees.html
Number of refugees
https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/ukraine
population
https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/ukraine-population/
refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/23/world/europe/migrant-crisis-europe-million.html
refugee camps
image
https://dazedimg-dazedgroup.netdna-ssl.com/900/azure/dazed-prod/1320/0/1320882.jpeg