Refugees who do not have Ukrainian citizenship find it difficult to leave the country a cause of racism and discrimination against them, says a report by Human Rights Watch (HRW).
According to the Human Rights Organization, refugees of African or Indian descent are particularly opposed in their attempts to cross the border, HRW reports.
Non-Ukrainian asylum seekers trying to save themselves from the war are largely foreign students. The investigation shows that it is systematically prevented them to access trains and buses because frontier workers give priority to Ukrainian women and children.
“The Ukrainian authorities should not discriminate on the basis of nationality or ethnicity. Neighboring countries, ”Human Rights Watch said.
According to Ukrainian government data, around 80,000 international students are enrolled in the country’s educational institutions. They mainly come from India, Morocco, Nigeria, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan.
Several reports also show hostile attitudes towards black asylum seekers, forcibly disembarked from trains and buses to make way for Ukrainian refugees.
Sergei Vasilievich Deineko, CC BY 4.0via Wikimedia Commons
