Is the West guilty of racial discrimination? By lamenting the death of “people with blue eyes and blond hair” we have turned Ukraine into a white man’s war, says a leading writer.
Racism scandal of Ukraine refugee crisis
Is the West guilty of racial discrimination? By lamenting the death of "people with blue eyes and blond hair" we have turned Ukraine into a white man's war, says a leading writer.
In February, Olufunmilola was studying medicine in the Ukrainian city of DniproA city in central Ukraine that has a particularly significant population of foreign students because of its well-regarded medical school.. When the Russian invasion came her reaction was much like many of her neighbours: shock, fear and desperation to escape the coming carnage. She packed up her bags and rushed to the bus station.
The beginning of Olufunmilola's story is similar to that of millions of Ukrainian refugeesAnyone fleeing conflict or persecution is defined as a refugee by the UN as a refugee, regardless of where they are from.. But after she left her home in Dnipro, her experiences were shaped by a fact that set her apart from most of her companions: she is Nigerian and black.
When Olufunmilola got to the station, she found many other foreign residents among the crowds. Some had been there for over 12 hours, watching helplessly as white Ukrainians were crammed onto coaches out of the city. They were being discriminated against because of their nationality and the colour of their skin - and this was just the beginning of their plight.
Reports are mounting of refugees of colour being abused both in Ukraine itself and in the countries where they have fled. In Poland, one Afghan refugee from Ukraine was killed. Others reported being left in the freezing cold without access to food or toilets while white Ukrainians were sheltered and fed.
Until the Russian invasion in February, Ukraine was home to 76,000 foreign students, attracted to the country's reputation for offering high quality degrees at relatively low cost. A quarter of them were from African countries and 20,000 were Indian.
While many European countries have rushed to offer Ukrainian refugees sanctuary, these foreign students have found a less welcoming response. Many of them are still stranded in Ukraine, and those who escaped have discovered that other European countries are unwilling to take them in.
Many are now stuck in no-man's-land, with no way home and no way of gaining asylumWhen a state agrees to shelter somebody who is fleeing dangerous circumstances. The right to asylum is protected in international law by the 1951 Refugee Convention. in the countries where they have ended up. British schemes to accept Ukrainian refugees, for instance, apply only to those with Ukrainian passports.
Some see an old prejudice at work. "We are still confronted by an inability to properly conceive people from the global southA term increasingly used to describe less-developed countries, most of which are south of a line that separates, on different continents, the USA from Mexico, Europe from Africa, and Russia from central Asia and China. as humans if they are trying to flee war and persecution," says Alba Kapoor, the head of an anti-racism charity.
The controversy about the treatment of non-white refugees does not only apply to Africans and Asians living in Ukraine. This week, in a widely shared article, the filmmaker David Matthews contrasted Europe's generosity to Ukrainian migrants with its treatment of those fleeing conflicts in countries like Afghanistan, Syria and South Sudan.
Poland, for instance, has taken in 2.9 million refugees from Ukraine. By contrast, the Polish prime minister promised that his country "will not be receiving migrants from the Middle East and North Africa".
The Bulgarian prime minister explicitly contrasted Ukrainian refugees with those from other conflicts. "These are not the refugees we are used to," he said. "These people are Europeans... intelligent, educated people."
Critics say that this sort of attitude is dehumanising to non-Europeans, treating the suffering of those from other parts of the world as less important.
<h5 class=" eplus-wrapper" id="question">Is the West guilty of racial discrimination?</h5>
Yes: The implication is clear. White European and Americans are blind to suffering unless the victims look like them.
No: It is tragic that some refugees have suffered from racism as well as displacement, but horrible things happen in the chaos of war. The fault is with Putin the warmonger, not the West.
Or... The whole idea of "the West" is part of the problem. Language like this divides humanity into an "us" and a "them" - the first step towards devaluing the humanity of those designated as outsiders.
Dnipro - A city in central Ukraine that has a particularly significant population of foreign students because of its well-regarded medical school.
Refugees - Anyone fleeing conflict or persecution is defined as a refugee by the UN as a refugee, regardless of where they are from.
Asylum - When a state agrees to shelter somebody who is fleeing dangerous circumstances. The right to asylum is protected in international law by the 1951 Refugee Convention.
Global South - A term increasingly used to describe less-developed countries, most of which are south of a line that separates, on different continents, the USA from Mexico, Europe from Africa, and Russia from central Asia and China.
Racism scandal of Ukraine refugee crisis

Glossary
Dnipro - A city in central Ukraine that has a particularly significant population of foreign students because of its well-regarded medical school.
Refugees - Anyone fleeing conflict or persecution is defined as a refugee by the UN as a refugee, regardless of where they are from.
Asylum - When a state agrees to shelter somebody who is fleeing dangerous circumstances. The right to asylum is protected in international law by the 1951 Refugee Convention.
Global South - A term increasingly used to describe less-developed countries, most of which are south of a line that separates, on different continents, the USA from Mexico, Europe from Africa, and Russia from central Asia and China.