Sizzla Urges Africans In Ukraine: “Get Off The Streets; Stick To Your Own; Try To Get Home” Amidst Discrimination Accusations

Sizzla Kalonji has weighed in on reports of Sub-Saharan Africans, who are trying to leave Ukraine where they had been living, being singled out for acts of discrimination, violence and xenophobia in contravention of United Nations’ protection of migrants guidelines.

His comments came on Tuesday, days after the New York Times carried the news that some Africans had reported that Ukrainian authorities had mistreated them, given preferential treatment to Ukrainians while traveling on trains and crossing borders, and hindered them from fleeing the country after Russian soldiers began their onslaught on February 24.

Based on the reports and videos which have been surfacing, it would appear as though the darker-hued Sub-Saharan Africans, particularly Nigerians, are being cherry-picked for ill-treatment, as their North African counterparts have not reported abuse by Ukrainian authorities at the border crossings.

Also, reports from Jamaican university students, who fled Ukraine for the island last week, were that they would not have been able to safely leave the country without the help of Ukrainians.

The New York Times reported too that a 23-year-old pharmacy student from the North African country of Morocco, who traveled from the Ukrainian city of Odessa to Warsaw in Poland, said he did not have any problems, while a Pakistani student and an Afghan national said the only problem they had was very long lines and a group of Vietnamese workers crossed easily into Moldova on Monday.

In his post, Sizzla shared what persons later said was a 10-year-old video, of a throng of white men physically assaulting two black men along a roadway, and expressed dismay about the situation in Ukraine.

“What an evil deed being done to us even to this day, we did them nothing,” the No White God artist said.

“Sizzla big up all black people in Ukraine.   They’re still alot of good people out there. Get off the streets stick to your own yet try to get home.   What a price for education,” he added.

Last week the Jamaica Observer reported that one Jamaican engineering student had expressed gratitude to the Ukrainians and solidarity with the Eastern European country.

“We entered Ukraine to study. We were welcomed by the Ukrainians. I also want to make this point clear to everybody, we wouldn’t have left the country without the Ukrainians. I mean, people whose sons are dying, whose fathers are dying, whose brothers are dying had no right to aid us, yet they did. We got so many lifts, there was food provided for us, and they didn’t have to do it, especially when their country is being destroyed right now,” the student had said.

“So a lot has happened. We are all grateful to be here and I can only show my appreciation to the country that I have left and wish them the best. I may be Jamaican, but my heart is Ukrainian,” he had said.

A fourth-year medical student, recounted that, prior to the war, she found Ukraine safer to live than Jamaica and that prior to the war “life was nice in comparison to Jamaica” and they felt safer there as crime was low. the quality of living high and the cost of living was low.

“So you could have a decent life with a little bit of money. So it was a very nice place, that is why we are so adamant in going back to Europe because it was better than being here…,” she had said.

However, in detailing the revelations of the ordeal of Africans who had been living in Ukraine, the New York Times reported that they said they were stuck for days at crossings into neighboring European Union countries, where they huddled in the cold without food or shelter, and that Ukrainian authorities not only pushed them to the ends of long lines, but flogged them, while letting their own nationals through.

The New York Times reported one Nigerian doctor, who lived in the western Ukrainian town of Ivano-Frankivsk, as saying that she spent more than two days stranded at the Poland-Ukraine border crossing in the town of Medyka, as the guards let Ukrainians across but blocked foreigners, beat them with sticks and tore off their jackets.

However, Ukraine’s deputy interior minister, Anton Heraschenko, had denied that his country was preventing foreigners from leaving, contending that the mode of operation is to “first to release women and children” and that “foreign men must wait for women and children to come forward” and that all foreigners would be released without hindrance.

“Same goes for blacks,” he had noted in a written response according to the New York Times, a fact the Nigerian disputed, stating that even though the officers said only women and children can pass through, they were letting some Ukrainian men through and “and whenever a Black lady would try to pass, they said: ‘Our women first.’”

Last week Thursday, the United Nation’s Director-General of the International Organization for Migration Antonio Vitorino, expressed displeasure about the contentious situation, and said the UN was receiving reports of discrimination resulting in heightened risk and suffering among non-Ukranians.

“I am alarmed about verified credible reports of discrimination, violence and xenophobia against third country nationals attempting to flee the conflict in Ukraine,” the Director-General had said.

“Let me be clear, discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, nationality or migration status is unacceptable. I deplore any such acts and call on States to investigate this issue and address it immediately,” he had added.

According to Vitorino, men, women and children from dozens of nationalities, including migrant workers and students living in Ukraine are facing acute challenges as they attempt to leave conflict-affected areas, cross borders into neighboring countries and seek life-saving assistance.

The former European Commissioner for Justice and Home Affairs, said that neighboring States need to ensure that all those fleeing Ukraine are granted unhindered access to territory, regardless of status and in accordance with International Humanitarian Law.

“Protection and immediate assistance must be provided in a non-discriminatory and culturally appropriate manner, in line with the humanitarian imperative, to all conflict-affected people throughout their journey to safety,” he said.

“I welcome the European Commission’s proposal to activate the Temporary Protection Directive to assist people fleeing Ukraine and call on Member States to ensure the inclusion of third country nationals in such protection measures,” the Portuguese national had said.

He also urged all IOM Member States and their partners to ensure there was an inclusive response to the humanitarian needs and crisis in Ukraine, in line with the Guidelines to Protect Migrants in Countries Experiencing Conflict or Natural Disaster.

Item number 10 of the Guidelines, says that States have the responsibility to facilitate migrants’ ability to move to safety, “as in the immediacy of a conflict or natural disaster, migrants, like many other affected populations, will seek to flee to safety by relocating within the host State to areas unaffected by the crisis, across borders to States of transit as a temporary haven, or back to States of origin”.

According to the UN document, Member States are required to, among other things, issue waivers or exceptions to exit, stay, and entry requirements; provide timely issuance and replacement of identity and travel documents; deploy consular assistance teams to borders, airports, or other transit points; provide temporary or humanitarian protection status for migrants and provide advocacy with and among States on keeping borders open to facilitate movement to safety.

Item number 11 of the Guidelines, also require Member States to provide humanitarian assistance to migrants on the basis of need and without discrimination, and regardless of immigration status, nationality, ethnicity, gender, age, disability, or other differentiating characteristics.