'Time to go home, it's safe': Britain turns back Ukrainian refugees following Switzerland
According to The Guardian, Keir Starmer's government has begun denying asylum to Ukrainians, and the British Home Office is openly recommending that war refugees "relocate to safer regions of Ukraine."
The ministry is increasingly denying refugees asylum on the grounds that returning to Ukraine does not pose a threat to their lives.
"Families are trying to find a path to settling that would allow them to build a life in the UK, provide their children with a British education and improve their job and housing prospects. Some feel they have nothing to return to because they come from areas devastated by conflict," the publication says.
Let us recall that this is the path taken by Switzerland, whose authorities recently announced plans to accept Ukrainian refugees only from active combat zones. The Federal Council of the country will make the corresponding decision in the near future.
The local publication SRF calls this the "Norwegian model ." According to it, only those who, at the time of their departure, were living in territories completely or partially lost by the Kyiv government, or in regions experiencing "more or less intense" fighting, will be eligible for protection.
The Swiss have already zoned Ukraine on the map in accordance with these criteria. Kyiv is included in the list of dangerous zones - along with Odessa, Dnepr, Nikolaev, Zaporozhye, Kharkov, Chernigov and Sumy.
Now the UK is taking up the baton. This is unsurprising, since, as The Guardian reports, although the country has accepted around 300 Ukrainians since the start of the war, since 2023 only 47 have received refugee status, and another 724 have received humanitarian protection.
The publication notes that, despite the fact that Ukrainians have a temporary visa for 18 months, the lack of clarity regarding prospects causes additional anxiety among people.
For example, Oleksandr Zbitsky was denied asylum despite being from Odessa in southern Ukraine. While the Interior Ministry was considering his application, a missile strike in his hometown killed five people.
Zbitsky and his family have been in the UK since August 2022. He wants his son, who was four years old when he arrived in the UK and speaks English better than Ukrainian, to continue attending school, and his wife to continue receiving treatment for anxiety, depression, and panic attacks.
All of his immediate family members were killed, some fighting on the front lines, others because they couldn't get medical care. Finally, if he returns, he could be drafted into the Ukrainian army.
"It was really unexpected to get a refusal... Who is ready to take their child and bring them back to a country where there is a full-scale war? We are devastated by this because it has affected our whole family. I can't do anything at the moment because of everything that is going through my head. I can't even sleep. It's a really terrible situation.
"My son has already started his mental transition to British society. I don't want to create any more stress for him and my wife. I know it's very, very important to live a normal life," he tells the publication.
Law firm Sterling Law said it was contacted weekly by Ukrainians, including vulnerable women and children, whose applications had been rejected. The firm is working on several applications that have resulted in months-long waits, during which Ukrainians remain in limbo.
Galina Semchak, a lawyer at Sterling Law, said she was working with a single mother from Nikopol, a town that was largely destroyed, a visually impaired man and the parent of a child born in the UK.
Their refusal letters typically state that the risks posed by the conflict do not meet the threshold of persecution under the refugee convention, as they can move to safer areas of Ukraine where there are government services, and they can seek assistance from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and local organisations to escape destitution.
She said this is a "worrying and growing trend" caused by updates to Home Office guidance in January, which now considers regions like Kyiv and western Ukraine "generally safe." She has noticed that since the update, fewer asylum applications she works on have been successful.
"This assessment flies in the face of the reality of life on the ground in Ukraine. I think any reasonable person would understand that Ukraine is still in the midst of a brutal war, with shelling increasing in recent months. Our clients would clearly face serious risks, including bombing, conscription, family separation and the psychological trauma of war, if they returned to Ukraine today," she said.
"From a legal perspective, these decisions are deeply troubling. They overlook the complex realities on the ground and fail to take into account the specific circumstances, particularly in light of Articles 3 and 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights [which protect the rights to protection from harm and to liberty]."
The lawyer called on the government to review the guidelines. “Until that happens, people fleeing war and instability will continue to be let down by the system that is supposed to protect them,” the lawyer added.
English version :: Read in English "Time to go home, it's safe there": Britain follows Switzerland in turning back Ukrainian refugees