Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
‘Ulster must greet people fleeing war’
HUMAN rights group Amnesty International is calling on Stormont to be ready to welcome refugees from Ukraine.
Addressing a rally outside Belfast City Hall yesterday Patrick Corrigan, Amnesty International’s Northern Ireland Programme Director, said it was “our duty as a country to welcome them with open arms”.
He added: “The horror of war which Russia is now inflicting on the civilian population of Ukraine is a reminder of the reason so many people are forced to become refugees.
“Any one of us in this situation would pick up our children and run - and we wouldn’t stop until we felt safe. Ukrainians are already fleeing in numbers, mostly initially to Poland. Many will likely move on. That is their right under international law, and the UN Refugee Convention.
“Some may make their way to Northern Ireland – perhaps because of family or friends here. It is our duty as a country to welcome them with open arms. That is our legal obligation and our moral imperative.
“As citizens, I know that we will be part of welcoming them and we will insist that our government, at
Stormont and in Westminster, steps up to their responsibilities.”
Meanwhile, tells of “Putin out”, “close the sky”, “UK support Ukraine” and “shut down Swift” filled the air opposite No10 Downing Street in London yesterday.
Ukrainians living in the UK united at Westminster, where they held up placards calling for further sanctions, sang hymns and draped themselves in their country’s flag. Finance worker Oleksandr Polishchuk, 49, tearfully said: “Thursday was the most horrible day of my life. It was my nephew’s sixth birthday.
“But instead of fireworks, they returned from Kyiv to the sounds of explosions.
“My brother gathered his family, his two kids and wife, and they left to try and get to Germany but didn’t make it far due to bombardments.
“Now they are just south of Kyiv with relatives.”
Wearing traditional dress, Maryna Nekliudova, 34, was at the protest with her husband. She has a close friend in Kyiv, who is in a makeshift bomb shelter in their apartment building with her threeyear-old twins.
Maryna said: “Every time they tried to leave with their cases the air raid siren would go off. Those kids should not know war. We have not done anything. We are a peaceful nation and this is completely unprovoked.”