Violation of rights of Ukrainian nationals in EU
Part 1
It is a well-known fact that the phenomenon of migration arose a long time ago and as long as it exists, there are problems of the infringement of migrants’ rights, who are remaining one of the most vulnerable categories of society.
There is no exception in case of the Ukrainian immigrants residing in the EU member states, who often face the intolerance based on their nationality, violation of their labour rights and other fundamental rights and freedoms just because of their citizenship, nationality or religion. Moreover, Ukrainians are often unaware of their rights and the mechanism for the protection of their rights.
And that is why the analysis of this problem and its comprehensive coverage is now acute, with the primary task to improve the protection of rights of our fellow citizens abroad.
We start with examining the facts of the discrimination in the EU member states, relying on the real-life situations of Ukrainian migrants and analysing their causes.
In January 2018, the Polish newspaper Gazeta Stołeczna reported that the international company Lindab with its manufacturing facilities located in the suburb of Warsaw ordered Ukrainian employees to wear clothes in the colours of the national flag (yellow shirt and blue pants). One of the company’s clients noticed the situation with the discriminatory differentiation of workers. He figured it out that the employees of the indicated company had a uniform of different colours depending on the department in which they were working, but only Ukrainian workers were wearing a blue-and-yellow uniform (the colours of the national flag!) and informed about that situation the Polish anti-racist association Never Again, which made this case publicly known.
It’s even hard to imagine that such a situation is possible. “Imagine that the Poles are obliged to wear a red-and-white uniform when they are working at a factory abroad,” said an eyewitness of the events at the factory in an interview with the newspaper Gazeta Stołeczna.
Is this behaviour indeed possible? What are employers guided by when they impose such requirements?
For example, the head of the Polish plant, Mr Michal Vroblivsky, denied all charges against him, explaining that such a uniform was used to demonstrate the level of knowledge (or rather lack of knowledge) of the Polish language by the Ukrainian workers. He argued that such identification was helpful for the employees themselves since everyone could immediately understand that this person was from Ukraine and did not know the language.
However, the Polish Ombudsman, Mr Adam Bodnar, noted that the differences introduced by the management of the company might constitute an unlawful practice of a discriminatory nature and thus the Ombudsman’s Office will conduct a more detailed inspection.
We can say that this situation was stunning for the majority. However, now there is a question of whether the aggression against Ukrainians increases?
Indeed, the stories about violation of the right of Ukrainians abroad, including the EU countries, more and more often appear in media.
In the Czech Republic, the citizens of Ukraine were not allowed to enter “Lenta”, the popular disco in Prague.
In Italy, the police were arresting Ukrainian carriers, fining them for EUR 4130 for the absence of transport licences that could not be obtained, as they are not foreseen by the Ukrainian legislation.
However, the most remarkable cases of discrimination regarding Ukrainians have recently taken place in Poland:
• The group of Poles attacked a house of Ukrainian workers residing in Gdansk (2 women and 2 children);
• In Sroda-Velikopolska the employer transported and left on the bench his Ukrainian worker who had a stroke in the workplace. He did not provide any medical assistance and did not call the ambulance;
• The law-enforcement officers have intensified the inspections of the foreign workers (especially Ukrainians, who did not need visas to enter Poland and the EU since June 11, 2017);
• The administration of a grocery shop (Barlinek city) has put a sign prescribing a personal check of every Ukrainian who would buy goods in this shop;
• The attack on a religious procession organised by the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Przemysl.
Unfortunately, this list of the so-called “extraordinary situations” that Ukrainians abroad are subject to is far from being complete.
As we see, today it is hard to turn a blind eye and ignore this problem. Nevertheless, Ukraine (including the Ministry for foreign affairs) still does not exercise systematic monitoring and recording of violation of our compatriots’ rights abroad. This situation can partly be explained by the fact that not all the Ukrainians abroad immediately seek the assistance of the embassies or consulates or that some of them even do not know that certain actions towards them constitute violations of their rights. It is due to these reasons that in the year of 2018 Ukrainian Government during the preparation of the annual Dialogue on Human Rights between the EU and Ukraine upon the initiative of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine raised an issue of analysing the situation with the rights of Ukrainians living and working in the EU Member-States.
So, what is the reason?
In general, the cases of the violation of the prohibition of discrimination based on the ethnicity are not uncommon in contemporary Europe. This state of affairs is brightly reflected in the recent practice of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), one of the most highly respected international human rights institutions. Take for instance the cases of Dakir v. Belgium, Moldovan and others v. Romania or Paraskeva Todorova v. Bulgaria, where the ECHR found violations of the prohibition of discrimination in conjunction with other rights guaranteed by the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, thus establishing that such situations contradict core European values and emphasizing their inappropriateness for the multinational societies of Europe.
It is unfortunate that in some countries our Ukrainians are treated in a way that would be unimaginable for the EU citizens. What is more, quite often there is no appropriate reaction on behalf of the relevant governments, which might encourage further violations.
In addition, the experts notice that such a behaviour might also be explained by the anti-Ukrainian rhetoric of certain politicians. For instance, the one triggered by the resonance around the Law on the Institute of National Remembrance (the so-called ‘anti-Bandera law’) and the resentment of some people towards the increased number of Ukrainians, for the most part in Poland.
During the last five years, there is a trend towards the increase of the Ukrainian migrants in the EU member-states including Poland, Czech Republic, Germany and Italy:
Poland — 36%
Russia — 25%
Czech Republic — 5%
Germany — 5%
Italy — 5%
The significant number of anti-Ukrainian materials in the Polish media plays not the least role in this negative process. The publications creating a negative image of the migrants from Ukraine can pose a threat to the political and social life of the Polish society.
Looking at this question, we have to be fair and take into account one more aspect, one of our compatriots’ actions. In most cases, Ukrainians experiencing such situations do not report about violations, which instigates further abuses.
Take for example the situation with the discriminatory uniform of the Ukrainian workers mentioned above. Probably, it would have remained unreported without the attention of the company’s observant client and position of the Polish human rights organisations.
But what is the motive for being silent about discriminatory treatment towards themselves?
In the majority of situations, the reason is the lack of awareness about one’s rights and the mechanism of their protection. Quite often people experiencing such problems do not know whom to ask for help and what exactly they need.
There is also a fear to lose the job as mostly such people are labour migrants and publicity of violations may lead to the loss of their position. Finally, there is a fear to be subject to the negative reaction of the society where they currently live.
Nonetheless, Ukrainians have to stop being silent as without the full information about such cases; it would be hard to develop a comprehensive and efficient mechanism of the protection of our compatriots’ rights abroad.
