Human Rights Watch said, on Friday, noted concern over Migrants and asylum seekers locked up in a migrant detention centre in Mykolaiv on the edge of the front lines in southern Ukraine. 

Ukraine should urgently release the dozens of migrants and asylum seekers …… and allow them to reach safety in neighbouring countries.

Nadia Hardman, refugee and migrant rights researcher at Human Rights Watch notes that the detainees are terrified of being kept in immigration detention during the war.  

Detainees are terrified and in danger, and there is no justification for keeping them in.

In April, Human Rights Watch conducted multiple interviews with the detainees of two detention centres in Ukraine. 

The interviewees from both the centre noted that they had been detained months prior to the Russian invasion.

Irrespective of the reason, the Human Rights Watch says,

their continued detention is arbitrary and places them at risk of harm from military hostilities

On March 9 and April 20, Human Rights Watch wrote to the Ukrainian authorities about the situation but has not received a response.

The Global Detention Project, in March, reported that migrants and asylum seekers were taken out of the Chernihiv Temporary Holding Center.

Chernihiv centre’s deputy director, Borys Kryvov later told Human Rights Watch that the facility after being emptied was hit by munitions. The damage was limited; shattered windows and roof.

This, however, emphasises the urgent need of evacuating people from Zhuravychi and Mykolaiv centres.

Failed attempt at giving freedom

Interviewees in both, Zhuravychi and Mykolaiv centres said guards told them they could leave the facilities if they joined the Ukrainian war effort.

The guards also promised that they would be granted Ukrainian citizenship and documentation if they joined.

However, none of the detainees accepted the offer.

Witnesses of the war

People in both facilities have felt terrified of being locked up in a war zone. 

Due to its proximity to the Belarusian border, people in Zhuravychi centre heard explosions and artillery fire.

Similarly, the detainees at Mykolaiv facility could hear and see military planes flying over the detention facility and the sounds of explosions and artillery at regular intervals.

In a text message to Human Rights Watch on April 28, one man at the facility said,

I lost hope … I think death is very close.

All the interviewees noted that they wished to leave as soon as possible and seek refuge in neighbouring countries. 

Few people from both the facilities have been released and evacuated to Poland with the aid and assistance of their embassies.

Need for urgent Assistance

Verification of Identity and travel documents from the embassies might be needed for detainees from third countries.

However, this might also result in delayed releases of the detainees at both centres.

According to diplomatic sources, all released detainees formerly at Chernihiv have crossed the border out of Ukraine. They were released right after the danger became evident.

The European Union has funded Ukraine’s border control and migration management programs to construct the perimeter security systems at Zhuravychi migrant detention centre.

The aim was to stop the flow of migrants and asylum seekers into the EU by shifting the responsibility to the EU’s neighbouring countries, in this case, Ukraine.

As the EU aids Ukrainian refugees, the migrants and asylum seekers still await assistance to get out of danger in Ukraine.

Shreya Vats contributed to the story