Prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump has joined a group of lawyers and activists from around the world to advocate for Black refugees who are facing discrimination while trying to flee Ukraine as the country continues to face attacks from Russia. Crump announced the group’s plan in a statement posted to Twitter on Wednesday.
“The appeal by attorneys, civil society leaders and activists comes after several reports and video evidence of physical violence, segregation and discrimination preventing African refugees from fleeing war-torn Ukraine at the border with Poland,” Crump said in his statement. “Reports allege that Polish authorities are threatening to shoot Black refugees and segregating the refugee lines to enter Poland based on race.”
The group filing the appeal includes attorney Jasmine Rand, who represented the families of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown, NBC News reports. Some of the other advocates are British judge Peter Herbert, Jamaican parliament member G. Anthony Hylton and Carlos Moore, president of the National Bar Association in the U.S.
In addition to filing the appeal to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the advocates plan to make their case to the U.N.’s Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
Filippo Grandi, the U.N. high commissioner for refugees, and Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s minister of foreign affairs, addressed the concerns earlier this week. The two officials acknowledged that some Africans had experienced discriminatory practices while trying to escape the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Robert A. Sanders, a retired U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps captain and a legal and national security educator at the University of New Haven, said the appeal is “totally appropriate.”
“We live in a world that has structures and systemic pieces built up over centuries that make Black and brown people less than,” Sanders told NBC News.
Dammy Raji, a Nigerian medical student in Ukraine, said she had trouble escaping the country, but she eventually made it to Poland.
“We took the train because we heard that was easier at the border,” she said. “But it was really hard to get onto the train as Blacks. They prioritized their people, especially women and children. … The Ukrainians that want their people to go first.”
The medical student adds that Polish people were very accommodating at the border.
“They are really nice, and there are many places organized by NGOs for foreigners because of what they are hearing online. So I think the awareness is what has helped us,” Raji said.
