Accusations of racist behavior are multiplying at the borders of Ukraine.
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“Everyone has the right to cross international borders during a conflict (…) regardless of their nationality or racial identity”. The African Union (AU) has expressed itself “concerned”Monday, February 28, in the way “shocking and racist” which claim to have been treated by African nationals seeking to flee Ukraine.
The governments of these countries are currently trying to help their compatriots to join neighboring countries, including Poland. Accusations of racist behavior are mounting at Ukraine’s borders, with Africans claiming they have been prevented from crossing or boarding trains and buses heading for the border.
“They got the black people together, they put us together in a corner.”
On the border between Poland and Ukraine, our reporter @NadegeJust met African students who tell of a difference in treatment between refugees. They witness. pic.twitter.com/vvGEbaX2zS
— Brut FR (@brutofficiel) February 28, 2022
“They don’t let Africans through. Blacks who don’t have European passports don’t get through… They turn us back just because we’re black!”thus testified to France 24 a student met at Lviv station, in the west of the country.
The Senegalese head of state, Macky Sall, current chairperson of the AU, and the chairperson of the AU Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, said they were “particularly concerned by reports that African citizens, being on the Ukrainian side of the border, are being denied the right to cross the border to safety”.
Members of the AU believe that a “unacceptable different treatment” to Africans would be “shocking and racist” and “would violate international law”. They “urge all countries to respect international law and show the same empathy and support for all people fleeing war, regardless of their racial identity”.