Since March 8, we have been around forty volunteers at the Tesco market, transformed into a humanitarian center, in the small Polish town of Przemysl, a few kilometers from the Ukrainian border. Our initial idea was simple, it responded to the emergency: deliver food, medical equipment and childcare equipment. When we arrived there, we discovered hell on the border.
The people fleeing Ukraine – who are not only Ukrainians but also students, immigrants to Ukraine – are mostly women and children. They boarded a train, beginning a journey of several days, often standing, sometimes on the ground, to reach the border of Medyka, an important border post in Poland. There, the Polish authorities charter buses to the various temporary accommodation centers – shopping centers, gymnasiums or schools transformed into makeshift camps. When they arrive, they are greeted by an army of volunteers, whose identity is often not verified, and who no longer know after a few days what to do with these refugees. Neither how to guide them nor how to accompany them.
After having coordinated the transport of more than 500 people to France, we are aware that citizen solidarity shows its limits: we do not have the human capacities necessary to ensure a permanent presence of the teams, we do not have the financial resources necessary to ensure daily round trips between France and Poland.
The mess is complete, the confusion total. We did not see any non-governmental organizations there. We did not come across any United Nations teams. There are, but we don’t know where. And if we don’t know it, the millions of refugees don’t know it either, and many of them are already exposed to traffickers. They’re on the prowl, and many people have already disappeared.
Faced with this observation, we demand the establishment of a humanitarian corridor.
States must guarantee safe travel and full care for all people fleeing war. France can lead by example. The humanitarian corridors worked, for Syria in particular thanks to the initiative of Saint-Eudigio and the Fédération de l’Entraide Protestante. These initiatives involve full support: transport, visas, choice of destination and mobilization of State services.
Rarely has the world witnessed such a displacement of people. Kosovo, Afghanistan and now Ukraine. Allowing mobility and organizing it is, at present, the only and true political commitment.
Signatories: For the Citizen Corridor
Carlos Arbelaez, entrepreneur, founder of Populaire
Alice Barbe, co-founder of Singa, president of the Academy of Future Leaders
Michka Bengio, co-founder of the Academy of Future Leaders and HQ Citizen
José Benavente, president of Voluntary Pilots
Clélia Compas, founder of Yambi, PhD student in migration studies, University of Sussex
Emrys Delcroix, activist
Joanna Front, Sophrologist
Maïa Le Bras, lawyer Volunteer Pilots
Salomé Martin-Darras, human rights activist
Hélène Michalak, specialist in the Syrian crisis
Anna Michalak, freelancer
Inna Kamilovna Omarova, entrepreneur, activist