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After days of hiding within the basement of her home, Sofiia Malinovskaya lastly made it to security. Airstrikes and combating close to her dwelling within the japanese Ukrainian metropolis of Kharkiv pressured her to go away Ukraine.
“A buddy and I left by automobile,” Malinovskaya mentioned. “It took us 4 days simply to get to the border. There have been simply so many vehicles, and the site visitors jam was loopy. We moved 170 kilometers (106 miles) in seven hours.”
They left through Slovakia as a result of border site visitors there had not been very busy. Volunteers helped Sofiia get to Krakow, Poland, then on to Warsaw and, from there, to the Greek metropolis of Thessaloniki.
Sofiia Malinovskaya fled from Kharkiv to Thessaloniki
Though she is now secure, she mentioned she feels she has no prospects. “I really feel very misplaced. You notice that you do not have the place to get again, as a result of my metropolis is nearly destroyed. There is not a constructing left with none destruction. You do not know what to do subsequent and you do not know how one can maintain dwelling a standard life after that,” she mentioned.
Malinovskaya got here to Thessaloniki as a result of she knew she would have a spot to reside. “I’ve a detailed buddy dwelling right here, and I may keep together with her,” she mentioned.
She added, nonetheless, that she didn’t know that Greece has been criticized for years for pushbacks and lack of safety of migrants and asylum-seekers.
Ukrainians have been fleeing to numerous neighboring international locations
Help with out pink tape
Greater than 10,000 individuals crossed the border as of Wednesday, in line with Vadym Sabluk, Ukraine’s consul normal in Thessaloniki.
“The Greek authorities kindly agreed to let all Ukrainians who escape from the struggle come to the Greek territory,” he mentioned.
Ukrainians carrying biometric passports may instantly enter the nation. For these figuring out themselves with different paperwork, similar to a delivery certificates, a middle has been arrange at Promachonas, the Greek-Bulgarian border checkpoint, the place refugees are given paperwork to fill out by the police. They might then submit the doc to the closest immigration authority and be formally registered.
Vadym Sabluk is Ukraine’s consul normal in Thessaloniki
“In keeping with the Ministry of Migration and Asylum, ranging from March 28, a web-based platform for pre-registration for receiving paperwork within the standing of momentary safety of Greek authorities can be launched,” Sabluk mentioned, including that the standing can stay legitimate for as much as three years.
Sabluk, who has been working nonstop for the reason that Russian invasion of Ukraine started on February 24, mentioned he has been overwhelmed by the willingness of Greek authorities and residents to assist his compatriots.
“Many individuals come to the consulate and supply their very own flats, homes and rooms with the intention to welcome Ukrainian individuals,” he mentioned.
Volunteers have been bundling up help packages for Ukraine
Russians dwelling in Greece are exhibiting solidarity as nicely, Sabluk added. “The Russians are coming and begging pardon and so they work shoulder-to-shoulder with our volunteers,” he mentioned.
Good refugee, unhealthy refugee
Inside Thessaloniki’s metropolis corridor, Ukrainians, Russians and Greeks have been working collectively to assemble packages of meals, clothes and medicines to be despatched to Ukraine. However out on the streets of Athens, extra then 400 cops have been busy with Operation Skupa (“broom”), finishing up checks on asylum-seekers and detaining anybody who cannot show their id.
“I am afraid to exit in any respect,” mentioned a younger Afghan, including that he doesn’t know the place he’ll go when the camp the place he lives shuts down in Might.
Some asylum-seekers are pressured to journey to submit their functions at a reception middle in Evros, a army zone
His software for asylum was rejected twice, he mentioned. In Kabul, his hometown, he labored as an interpreter for worldwide media shops, and he fears the Taliban will make good on threats to kill him if he returns to Afghanistan.
The Afghan’s try and submit a brand new asylum software was unsuccessful. For hours he tried, as required, to register through the Skype messenger service, however he by no means bought via. Now he has to journey, at his personal expense, to the district of Evros, located on the different finish of the nation, to submit his software at a reception middle.
He mentioned his time in Greece has left him with little belief in Greek authorities. He mentions witnessing police violence and unlawful deportations whereas making an attempt to cross the border from Turkey to Greece.
In February, Bangladeshi migrants staged an indication in opposition to arbitrary police detention
The Afghan mentioned evaluating the remedy of Ukrainian refugees together with his personal state of affairs makes him offended. “They’re new arrivals and will undergo the identical process as all the opposite refugees,” he mentioned.
The struggle in Ukraine is the primary subject of debate on the camp the place he lives, he mentioned, including that the state of affairs there was troublesome sufficient with out seeing how others have obtained preferential remedy.
Documented breaches of regulation
Human rights activists have lengthy denounced the Greek authorities’s remedy of refugees. The federal government, nonetheless, claims that Turkey is a secure third nation and that, due to this fact, individuals had no proper to worldwide safety within the EU.
Talking to the parliament, Greek Migration and Asylum Minister Notis Mitarakis just lately labeled the refugees from Ukraine “actual refugees.” In the meantime, main politicians have mentioned asylum-seekers from the Center East or Africa are “unlawful immigrants,” in line with Greek media.
Neda Noraie-Kia, of the Heinrich Böll Basis in Thessaloniki, disapproves of Greece’s unequal remedy of refugees
Neda Noraie-Kia, an skilled in European migration coverage on the Heinrich Böll Basis, which is affiliated with the German Inexperienced Social gathering, mentioned she disapproves of the Greek authorities’s unequal remedy of refugees. A relatively somber image has emerged relating to refugee safety in Greece, she mentioned: Unlawful deportations, lack of primary provisions, lack of integration efforts — the listing of accusations is lengthy.
“It is necessary that the EU responds to documented breaches of regulation,” she informed DW.
Nonetheless, it’s also necessary that refugees from Ukraine obtain safety in Greece with out pink tape, she added.
“This proves, in spite of everything, that solidarity is feasible,” mentioned Noraie-Kia, including that such solidarity additionally must be prolonged to others who search safety.
Many individuals, together with asylum-seekers from Afghanistan, have been ready too lengthy for an asylum listening to, trapped in a authorized grey space for years.
“Safety in opposition to struggle and persecution will not be an act of mercy,”mentioned Noraie-Kia. “We within the EU will not be remoted on this world. When authoritarian regimes oppress their residents, we won’t shut our eyes. We should take duty.”
This text was initially printed in German
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