The UN is preparing for four million Ukrainians to escape Russia’s attack. For the time being, even European anti-immigration countries are keeping their doors open.
The Russian invasion that began last Thursday has fled Ukraine According to the UN (moving to another service) 660,000 Ukrainians in six days. There are bad congestion at border stations and you may have to wait days to get out.
Ukraine will not let the men of war age leave, who must remain to defend the country.
“Real refugees” welcome
The doors have been kept open for newcomers from Ukraine, at least at this stage.
The treatment of asylum seekers from elsewhere is considerably rude, and the Hungarian refugee system has been criticized by e.g. UN (moving to another service) and EU (switch to another service). In 2015, the right-wing populist regime in Hungary erected a barbed wire on its border and sought to keep refugees at bay – meals and emergency accommodation cooked by volunteers are now waiting to cross the border.
According to right-wing populist Orbán, one does not have to be a rocket scientist to see the difference between “masses from Muslim regions seeking a better life in Europe” and Ukrainians fleeing war.
Same the separation is visible (you switch to another service)elsewhere. There is sympathy for the tenacious struggle of Ukraine, which has been attacked by Russia, but in addition, the Ukrainians are considered closer to the people and more easily identifiable.
For example, in Poland, led by the Law and Justice Party, asylum seekers pushed by Belarus were violently repelled in the autumn. Now the country is at the forefront of supporting Ukraine against the Russian invasion and taking in those fleeing the war.
– These are not the kind of refugees we’re used to. These are Europeans. These people are intelligent and educated, Petkov said.
The comparison shakes the ears of asylum seekers and those who have already been granted refugee status from elsewhere in Europe. The news agency AP asked Petkov for a comment from a journalist who had fled the Syrian civil war, Okba from Mohammad. He thinks Petkov combined racism and Islamophobia.
– A refugee is a refugee, be he European, African or Asian, said Mohammad.
In Finland, basic Finns have commented on those fleeing Ukraine in a completely different way than usual. Basic Finnish MEP Laura Huhtasaari welcomed the refugees on Saturday, with the topic #Ukraine.
In 2015–2020, more than four hundred thousand positive decisions on asylum or residence permits and about one million negative decisions were made in the current EU countries, according to Eurostat. About a third of the newcomers thought that the immigration authorities of European countries had a valid reason to seek asylum.
Only a small proportion apply for asylum
Unlike less than seven years ago, we are now fleeing to neighboring countries. A large proportion of newcomers do not seek asylum because they do not need to.
About half of the fugitives have headed west, to Poland. There are already about a million inhabitants with a Ukrainian background.
But there have also been fugitives from other borders: Hungary (UNHCR Monday assessment (switch to another service) 94 thousand), Moldova (40 thousand), Romania (34 thousand) and Slovakia (30 thousand). Some continue beyond neighboring countries. Fighting has also escaped from eastern Ukraine to Russia, the UNHCR estimates the number to be “substantial.”
Ukrainians have come to Finland in recent days, but the total number is unknown.
The EU is expected to introduce temporary protection
Within the Schengen area, Ukrainians can stay without a visa or residence permit for 90 days if they have a biometric Ukrainian passport. This is also the case in Finland.
This temporary protection mechanism, turned in the 1990s, has not been used before. The decision may be made as early as Thursday at the EU interior ministerial meeting.