African immigrants trying to flee, according to Ukraine's foreign minister, "ought to have equal possibilities to return to their home countries safely."
Days after Russia's war on Ukraine triggered a catastrophic refugee crisis, the Ukrainian government has officially recognized that African immigrants fleeing the bloodshed have been treated differently than white Ukrainians.
Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine's foreign minister, tweeted on Tuesday that Russia's incursion has "hurt Ukrainians and non-citizens in several disastrous ways." Africans seeking evacuation are our friends," the official said, adding that Ukraine's government "makes no attempt to fix the problem."
There have been a slew of reports in the media in recent days of African students and other immigrants facing racist treatment as they seek to flee cities under attack. This includes Black people being kept from boarding buses and trains even as white Ukrainians were able to and being kept waiting hours in the cold at the border with Poland.
Filippo Grandi, the UN's high commissioner for refugees, acknowledged the "difference in treatment" between Ukrainians and "non-Ukrainians" earlier Tuesday. "There should be no discrimination between Ukrainians and non-Ukrainians, Europeans and non-Europeans," the United Nations official said, adding that the organization "plans to act to try to ensure that everyone receives equal treatment."
"Everyone is fleeing the same dangers," he continued.
Several African governments have decried the bigotry faced by Africans attempting to flee the war-torn country. The Nigerian government condemned "unfortunate reports" of Ukrainian police "refusing to allow Nigerians to board buses and trains" bound for Ukraine's border with Poland on Monday. Similar worries expressed by South African students were repeated by South Africa's head of public diplomacy.
"Reports that Africans are picked out for unacceptable dissimilar treatment would be brutally racist and in defiance [of] international law," the African Union, which represents 55 African countries, warned Monday. All countries should "offer the same empathy and solidarity to all those fleeing war, regardless of their racial origin," the states said.
