Born equal in rights: Why not give Black people equal rights to safety in Switzerland?

They say that we are all born equal in rights, but once again, members of the Black community fleeing the war in Ukraine are being shown that this is simply a mirage. Our teams arrived in Switzerland where every day, we hear stories of differential treatment and discrimination.

Many students and community members have applied to obtain an S permit. Their passports and national identity cards from Ukraine have been seized. Many live in fear every single day of not being allowed to remain in this country.

For a lot of our community members, Switzerland represented hope. When the government of Switzerland announced that they were ready to welcome everyone equally, many members of the Black community rushed there in hope of obtaining a second chance… little did they know, some of them would face one of the greatest adversity of their lives thus far.

Many people fleeing the war in Ukraine have been put in a high security former jail which serves as a “shelter”. This experience is already quite traumatizing for a lot of Black people. Without clear information on their status nor on what will happen to them and their passports, IDs etc… they constantly live in fear.

We received the message below from one of the students that our organization is currently supporting:

With our team on the ground at Society Moko, we are doing everything in our power to block these students and families from being deported. If you are or know any human rights lawyers, please contact our team at connect@globalblackcoalition.org

“We are ready to go back to Ukraine and die!”