Europe must welcome all displaced people with humanity and dignity

The critical situation with over three million people fleeing Ukraine in three weeks has shown that the willingness to reach out and help is great among people of many countries in Europe.

At the same time, the obvious cannot be ignored; the support to people from other conflicts must not be deprioritised. And it is extremely important that we oppose all attempts to rank the seriousness or suffering of displaced people around the world. We must never abandon the principle of equal human dignity.

Unfortunately, the actions of both individual countries of the European Union and the EU in general show that, right now, a distinction is being made between people coming from different regions of the world.

The EU countries that previously have stubbornly refused to accept people fleeing the war in Syria, such as Poland, Hungary and Slovakia, have now made a complete about-turn. Poland has—in three weeks—received almost two million Ukrainians, of which over 90 percent are women and children. The fact that the refugees come from a neighbouring country and have similar culture and appearance seems to weigh heavily. Polish representatives have also implied that it is easier for the country to accept non-male refugees.

The EU as a whole seems to be making a similar assessment. The so-called Temporary Protection Directive of the EU has existed since 2001 and came into being after the wars in Former Yugoslavia as a measure for the union to be able to quickly manage large numbers of refugees in an acute crisis. But the EU refrained from activating this directive in connection with the Syrian war and the influx of refugees in 2015. The union still received one million refugees, despite several countries—including those mentioned above—refusing.

But now, without discussion and with great unanimity, the EU has activated the Temporary Protection Directive for the first time ever and it only applies to displaced Ukrainians, but everyone fleeing Ukraine is not equally welcome. African guest students trying to leave the country have testified about gross racist treatment at the border with comments about race and about being denied access to—in this case—Poland. They have also been physically assaulted by border guards.

Western media, such as the BBC, have spoken in terms of it being easier to feel affinity to “blonde and blue-eyed” refugees. This is reprehensible. The media influences our image of refugees and carries a heavy responsibility for how we view refugees, whether they come from Africa, the Middle East or Ukraine.

The fact that the whole of Europe now seems to both see and understand the Ukrainian people’s suffering and need of protection, and has acted swiftly to help those who are fleeing, must be the first step towards a more humane acceptance of refugees in Europe and not just a deviation that applies when primarily European women and children are in need.

—Petra Tötterman Andorff, Secretary-General