Ukrainian Roma war refugees face a lack of friendship and a violation of international conventions when entering and staying in Western countries.
Ukrainian refugees of Roma ethnicity occasionally receive a hellish welcome at the "gates of paradise" if we want to declare the European Union a paradise because of this joke. At the end of February, the European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) published the story of a woman named Agnes from the Ukrainian city of Beregovo who, together with her two minor children, tried in vain to enter Hungary several times at the Beregsurani border.
At the first attempt, a Ukrainian border guard barred her from crossing the border, explaining her actions with rumors that Ukrainian Roma were abusing the Hungarian social security system and engaging in begging.
Agnes reported the case to the ERRC, which requested clarification from the border authorities. It was officially answered that the Ukrainian border guards were not instructed to allow anyone to leave Ukraine, provided they had the legal right to leave, and were not primarily recruits. The Ukrainian border service also told Agnes through the ERRC to try again.
In the second attempt she was rejected with a similar explanation. After a new report to the ERRC, she tried to cross from Ukraine to Hungary for the third time, but recorded the development on her mobile phone. She, of course, wanted to gather evidence of discriminatory treatment. Ukrainian border police have threatened to arrest and confiscate her belongings if she continues to film members of the Ukrainian army.
Only on Monday, February 27, in the fourth attempt, Agnes and her children managed to cross the border into the European Union.
The ERRC comments that Agnes's experience illustrates the insecurity that Roma refugees may face when trying to escape the war in Ukraine. The Ukrainian authorities themselves, as well as the authorities in other countries, including the European Union, are inclined to the stereotype that the Roma are not "real refugees".
Link: https://h-alter.org/ljudska-prava/tko-bi-primio-rome/
